


Lost and Found

by tubendo



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Feels, Azula and Zuko feels, Dark and wholesome at the same time, Don't forget Azula, F/M, Kyoshi Island, On Kyoshi Island Avatar hunt you, Original Character(s), The Kyoshi Warriors have sick bants, There will be tea, Zhao perhaps went a little nuts, Zuko doesn't want to be Unagi lunch, just generally lots of feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2020-01-06
Packaged: 2020-06-02 03:32:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 63
Words: 430,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19433056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tubendo/pseuds/tubendo
Summary: Prince Zuko doesn't like the fact that his entire quest to find the Avatar has gone up in smoke, much less does he like the fact that he has lost his ship, his crew and his uncle and has found himself shipwrecked on an island full of people that might want to throw him to a sea-monster. Can he find what has been lost, maybe will he find something he wasn't looking for?





	1. Unagi Lunch

She was good at many things, and eavesdropping happened to be one of them; Princess Azula didn't think that hiding around the palace and eavesdropping on people would be overly productive- but one thing was for certain, she happened to be very good at it. She knew she was agile, lithe and capable of getting into small places that no one else would dare try- then again she was only nine years old; people didn't think much of nine year olds- most would just run around in the mud and go crying to their mothers- but not Azula- no, her mother was probably dead, and there was no abundance of mud in the Fire Nation Royal Palace. Instead she had nobles, generals and other dignitaries to play around with- and playing for her wasn't a mutual endeavour; they were her Pai Sho pieces, and the politics of her nation just happened to be her playing board. The conversation she was currently snooping on was rather interesting, it was between a man called Zhao and another whose name she did not know.

"Commander- it's a little stuffy here in the palace, don't you think?" Zhao asked the man beside him, who rolled his eyes at his subordinate officer.

"Zhao- it's the halls of power- one day you might find your self honoured to be on the war-council, then you might think differently." he told him, who chuckled at his argument.

"That is true- urgh- by the time I'm Admiral maybe that little rat will be Fire Lord- he will be a pain to deal with." he considered, Azula knowing very specifically that Zhao was deriding her very own brother, something that humoured her greatly- she found solace in knowing it wasn't just her father and her herself who thought her brother to be an annoyance.

"Don't let anyone hear you speak of the Crown Prince like that- you could get in deep shit." he chided the Captain, who scoffed.

"What- is the little bastard going to challenge me to an Agni Kai? He's only eleven, and more than that, he lacks a spine." he scoffed, Azula smirking at the thought of it; she knew her brother was a weakling, her mother tainting his inner strength- she thought of the humour of her brother trying to fight the far older man, and even humoured in consideration that he could win it.

She considered that information enough to mock her brother with, the best kind of information she could gain from her frequent eavesdropping sessions- his down attitude after their mother had disappeared only made the information ever so sweeter in her eyes- she could chip away at his confidence, and he wouldn't even blame her- it was Zhao, the side-burn touting officer who arrogantly claimed he was a 'spineless bastard' behind his back. Stepping away from the discussion, she danced through the shadows, hiding herself from sight- no guards or servants caught an eye of her as she returned to their bedrooms, which her now in the main palace, much to her enjoyment- her expansive new bedroom and more servants only furthered her intent that the luxuries of power were far too enticing to ignore- although she wasn't Crown Princess- yet. She pranced through the halls without a worry, knowing she was far too agile for the guards to catch onto her- once she reached the end of palace that contained her and Zuko's personal bedrooms, she slowed to walking pace, her posture rising to stand tall, as any Princess should; in her own domain, she was no longer out of place, and took graceful steps toward her brothers bedroom- she knew he was still sulking about their mothers disappearance, which made her uninvited entrance into his room all the much sweeter. He sat meditating by the window of his bedroom, glancing her way with a face of contempt- Azula only came to see him for one thing- and that was to mock him; he was not quick to forget how she had claimed their father was going to kill him, only for their mother to disappear that night, and their grandfather to pass on- they both understood it was no coincidence.

"What is it, Azula?" he grit his teeth, turning back to sit in his meditation form and close his eyes, probably hoping that she would just go away.

"I heard that Captain Zhao thinks you're a spineless bastard." she smugly told him, the Crown Prince's face turning to a scowl as he looked at her.

"He what?" his tone sounding his disbelief- she chuckled at the thought that she thought she was lying.

"It's the truth- he called you 'a little rat', 'a little bastard' and 'lacking a spine'" she more accurately paraphrased the Captain's words; looking as his face grew red with anger, any attempt of remaining in his meditative state broken, the young Prince glared at her with utter contempt.

"Shut up Azula- what's a bastard anyway?" he asked her, his eleven-year-old vocabulary lacking knowledge of such a term.

"A bastard is a child born out of wedlock." she told him, the Prince raising to his feet and pulling his hands above his head, throwing fists of fire onto the ground, setting his carpet alight.

"How dare he dishonour her name!" he screamed in anger, "Dishonour our father's name!" he shouted even louder, Azula stepping closer with a smirk between her cheeks; she knew more than anything he loved their mother, and he tried to love their father just the same- for a man to disgrace their honour by calling him such a name, she knew that even her eleven year old brother would not take it silently.

"And what are you going to do about it, Zuzu?" she asked her brother, whose eyes turned back to her.

"I want to make him understand- make him feel what his words mean." his eyes filled with a fiery rage that even intimidated the confident Princess herself.

"Haha- the dragon awakens." she jested to him, the Prince's determined stance ignoring her mockery.

"When do you train today?" he asked her, the Princess raising an eyebrow in confusion- why would her brother care when she trained?

"Lo and Li will be instructing me after lunch." she reiterated her daily plan, to which her brother's eyes glinted, making her feel somewhat confused, "Why do you care?"

"I will watch you." he admitted to her, the Princess scoffing.

"Ah- you will admire my sets? I'm learning a new one today." she boasted, the Prince shaking his head as he approached her.

"I will learn." he told Azula, whose eyes narrowed at him.

"You are still on the basic sets- how could you even try to learn them?" she asked Zuko, who raised his hand to create small flames that danced around his fingers; as the orange flames lit up both their faces, he made eye-contact with sister, his stare so determined that she thought he was trying to bend with his eyes.

"Because I must- Zhao will learn what a 'spineless bastard' can do."

* * *

_5 years later..._

It was a common threat that the Kyoshi Warriors made toward outsiders that trespassed on their island- that if they didn't give them reason, they would throw them to the Unagi; Suki knew the beast to be deadly and dangerous, and all people on the island knew to stay well away from sea outside of large boats- one might find themselves consumed by the massive sea-snake, yet before her scouting party lay an unconscious body- someone had washed ashore, miraculously avoiding death by the feared monster of Kyoshi Island. She and her unit looked at the unconscious teenage boy, whose appearance seemed to be most unusual- he had shaved head except for a long ponytail at the top of his head, and a large scar covering his left eye.

One of her warriors, Nakata, knelt over to scan the boys clothing, noting that he wore dark gray and red robes that barely covered his body, and were mostly ripped to shreds, "What happened to this guy?"

"Maybe we should wake him up and find out ourselves." another warrior, Amari, piped up, Suki raising her hand to tell her girls to quiet themselves.

"We should take him back to the village- he looks hurt and we can't just leave him here." she explained, before eyeing her girls with slight suspicion, "And if need be, yes- we can interrogate him."

Amari's face turned to a smirk and she nodded in approval, Suki indicating to pick up the unconscious boy and take him away from the shoreline; two of her girls, Sawa and Esumi, grabbed his legs, while she herself and Nakata grabbed the boy's arms.

Glancing over to Amari, she indicated up over the hillside, "Go to the village and tell them to get ready- I'm sure this guy will need some medical attention." she told her, glancing back to look at the state of the unconscious boy- other than the most obvious injury that he bore, a scar covering his entire left eye, he was covered in bruises and small cuts, making her consider that he might have been in a fight or something of the sorts before he washed ashore.

The four Kyoshi warriors trudged up the hillside, meandering around trees and rocks to reach the top of the slope, finding themselves with a good view into the valley below, where they village sat perched, it's distinctive monument to Avatar Kyoshi sticking out to indicate them of its close proximity; keeping pace, she could see the strain in her girls eyes- not only were they wearing full armour, but they were carrying another person between them.

"Come on girls- it's not that far." she assured them, continuing to snake down the path toward their village- soon enough Amari returned into view with a number of villagers looking on in shock; stepping forward, she waved a hand at her fellow warrior "Do you have the medicinal herbs?" Suki asked her, the girl nodding, pulling out a bag that she had retrieved from various households in the village; each family would store up medicinal herbs, and from time to time they would be needed for the village's use.

Suki and her warriors carried the unconscious boy over into the closest building they could fine, a small house on the edge of the village; as they lay the boy on the floor of the house, they noted he was shivering slightly from the cold- the bodies natural reaction to such adverse changes in temperature- her island was not the warmest place in the Earth Kingdom, that was for sure.

She indicated over to blanket, Nakata quickly grabbing it and covering his body with it to keep him warm; she glanced back out to the villagers, "We're sorry to use your medicines on a stranger- but we couldn't just leave him on that beach." she apologised, knowing that their medicinal herbs were in low supply and any use was a threat to any villagers that got injured or sick in the future.  
Oyaji, the village leader, approached them with interest, "What's happened? A boy washed up on the shore Amari said." he told them with a tone of disbelief- just like her, he knew it was a miracle the boy hadn't been eaten or worse by the Unagi.

"He was just there on the beach- he's injured, that's why we asked for the medicine." she explained to him, the older man nodding in understanding.

"Do we know anything about him?" he asked her with a fearful tone- their island was neutral in the Hundred Year War, and at that point, the Fire Nation hadn't tried to attack their island- isolation, poverty and a lack of many earthbenders helped, but their complete inaction in the war itself was an important reason the Fire Nation had done little but trade a bit at their ports.

"Dark hair, light skin- the looks of someone form the Fire Nation." she admitted- there was probably people from the Earth Kingdom with the same look, but she couldn't be certain.

Amari raised a brow at them conversation, "His robes looked Fire Nation- maybe this guy is a soldier."

"Do soldiers wear this?" she asked her with a tone of disbelief, indicating to the tattered robes that more resembled the robes of a peasant than what they knew a Fire Nation soldier to look like.

"Probably not- but it's the right colours, you see." she pushed on with her argument, Esumi glancing at her with slight frustration.

"Could you just shut up Amari? We get it- he might be Fire Nation- let's leave the interrogation to when he's actually, you know, awake." she chided her fellow warrior, who glared back, Suki standing up between them.

"Stop it both of you- we will handle all these issues when this guy wakes up- understood?" she ordered both of them, who nodded in concession, Amari walking away while Esumi returned to tend to the unconscious boys injuries.

Leaning over to look over him, she scanned his figure once more- unsure what she ought to do; Suki knew she wasn't overly skilled at tending to battlefield injuries, let alone whatever happened to the boy before her. She grabbed the crushed herbal mixture that Esumi was using to tend to his bruises and cuts, and begun to apply it to the swollen areas; going along his frame she eventually reached his neck and face, where his good eye was blackened from a bruise and his nose and lips cut up- as she applied the paste, she felt his body tremble, and a few moments later his eyes opened. Glancing into his eyes, she immediately knew as she saw the bright gold, that Amari was probably right- this boy was most certainly Fire Nation, and the cringing he made with his face as he realised the situation he was in only furthered her confirmation.

"Wh-where am I? Who a-are you?" he asked the warriors, his eyes scanning them with confusion.

"Better question- who are you?" Suki simply asked him, the boy raising his head with a worried look.

"Uncle- where's Uncle." he muttered to himself, trying to get up, only for the warriors to hold him down.

"You're far to injured to move- what about an 'uncle'?" she asked him, the boy glaring at her.

"The ship was sunk." he rubbed his face with one of his hands, cringing at the touch of the herbal paste, "What even is that?" he asked in confusion as he looked at the greenish paste in his fingers.

"Herbal medicine, to help with the bruises and cuts; you didn't answer my question." she reiterated, the boy glancing at both her and Esumi with a worry.

"Uh- I was shipwrecked- I think there was an explosion- I fell overboard." he explained, Nakata chuckling in hearing his story.

"The Unagi has truly blessed this one, hasn't it?" he jested, Sawa and Esumi both chuckling along to her joke.

"The Unagi?" he asked with even more confusion.

"A giant sea serpent that eats anything in it's waters- perhaps not Fire Nation boys like you." Suki acknowledged, the boys eyes opening wide, "So- are you Fire Nation?" she asked him, the boys eyebrows furrowing.

"What is it you?" he questioned with a tone of heavy suspicion, to which Esumi and Sawa turned to her with faces of suspicion toward him.

"Amari was right?" Sawa mumbled, Suki turning to glare at him.

"Yes or no." she grit her teeth, the boy inching back fearfully, before nodding.

"I am."

"Do you have a name, ash-maker?" she asked him, whose face contorted to one of offense- he clearly didn't like the common insult, but he went along and told them anyway.

"Zuko- my name is Zuko."

"Zuko, I know you're probably hurting from whatever happened to you, but I'm afraid to say you're going to have to give us some good reasons to not throw you to the serpent that didn't eat you." she told him with blunt honesty, his good eye opening wide.

"Wh-what?" he stammered, "You're going to feed me to a giant sea serpent?"

"Not me- it's up to Oyaji to decide." she admitted, indicating to the village leader who stood outside the tent with the other villagers.

"Do I have to stand trial when I can't stand?" he asked her, the usually serious warrior chuckling at his joke.

"No- you don't need to be able to walk to defend yourself, do you?" she asked him, who looked to the other warriors with fear.

"P-please- I'm not here to fight you- or conquer you- this is just a big mistake." he pleaded to them, making them all chuckle.

"Well Mr. Zuko, you best think of what you're going to say to Oyaji, because we're not giving you anymore paste while there's a chance we're throwing you to the Unagi." Esumi admitted, making him gulp in fear, his hand crossing the bruises over his torso.

"Um- so is this Oyaji guy nice?" he asked, probably hoping for the best; Suki cringed and looked at him with a pained face.

"Not really." she admitted, "We'll give you a few minutes to figure yourself out before he comes and questions you, got it?" she asked him, the injured boy nodding.

"Y-yes- thank you." he told her, looking at all of Kyoshi Warriors present, "You all saved me- I thought I had woken up in the spirit world or something like that."

She and the warriors nodded at his respect before they left the tent, the other girls walking back to their dojo while she approached Oyaji, who looked to her with suspicious eyes.

"Suki- so, who is this boy?" he asked her, who glanced back at the house momentarily before looking back at the village leader- as much as she respected his word, she knew that Zuko had probably not done anything wrong, and he seemed like the thankful and caring type, not the burn everything until everyone's dead type.

"His name is Zuko- his gold eyes and attire make him out to be Fire Nation, and he admitted he was Fire Nation with little prodding- this boy has nothing to hide, although he didn't explain why or how he became shipwrecked on our island- you can ask him about that, but just a forewarning, he seem did pretty shaken by it all." she explained what she had gathered about the boy who had miraculously survived a shipwrecking on Kyoshi Island of all places.

"Hmm- and what of his character?" he asked Suki, whose brows rose in interest.

"I don't really know sir- he seems nice enough- but nice doesn't stop the Fire Nation coming to burn down our village." she admitted, knowing all to well if they were to slip up somehow and inadvertently find themselves at the receiving end of a Fire Nation attack.

"I concur with your sentiment, Suki." he assured her, before placing a hand on her shoulder-plate, "Thank you for telling me what you know- I know I can trust in you to get things done."

She bowed slightly to him with a smile, "Yes sir." before she turned to walk over to the dojo to clean up slightly- she knew that if the boy was to be thrown to the Unagi, she ought to look half-decent for the affair.

Suki never liked the Fire Nation, what they had cost the world with their useless war had given her that sentiment, but she already understood well enough that ones character shouldn't be judged for where they come from- for her to dismiss Zuko's innocence would be all the same as a male warrior treating her and her comrades by their presuppositions about women, and not as warriors. A part of her however wanted him to be found innocent despite being Fire Nation- he didn't seem like a bad person, and it would be a shame for the world to lose another good soul to the Unagi of all things.

* * *

Prince Zuko was having nothing short of a panic attack over his current situation: to wake up, be interrogated and then told if he couldn't argue for his case, that he was to be thrown to the resident sea-monster for it's lunch was all too much. The last thing he remembered was going out onto the deck to catch a breath- his uncle had forced him to join in on the crew's music night, much to his chagrin and he needed to get out; he remembered explosions and fire, being thrown through the air, screaming and shouting and then nothing. He deduced he was thrown overboard, and then washed ashore on this unusual island that had the specific legal punishment of throwing wrongdoers to a sea-monster, something which he would have found as an amusing triviality usually, but seeing that he was the one who might get eaten by said sea-monster he was not finding it funny in the slightest. The village leader, Oyaji, entered the house, looking at his sorry state- he felt somewhat uncomfortable by his near naked form, with only his lower body covered by a blanket.

"Zuko, is it?" he questioned, the Prince nodding, knowing that he would have to give a really well tuned excuse to get out of this situation.

"Yes- that's my name." he confirmed, glancing up the older man, whose long beard and friendly face seemed contrary to the authority that he imposed upon him.

"The Kyoshi Warriors saved you, they should have you greatest thanks- you were passed out on the beach, they said." he explained, his brows furrowed at his figure, "But I am more curious as to what happened to you, Zuko- where are you from?" he asked the Prince, who coughed and cleared his throat.

"The Fire Nation." he told him, unsure if it was wrong to tell him that- he couldn't lie about it anyway, his eyes gave it away.

"And how did someone from the Fire Nation end up on a beach on this island?" he asked him, the Prince's eyes turning to one of worry.

"I was shipwrecked- I don't know what happened to my people- my Uncle- am I the only one here?" he asked him, whose eyes grew solemn at understanding what he was telling him.

"I'm sorry to tell you this, but your people might have all died in the shipwreck; these are not the most forgiving seas to find oneself lost in." he told the Prince, the fear in his gut not subsiding, but growing in intensity.

"I- I can't- Uncle- he can't be gone." he begun to mutter in fear, covering his face with his hands.

"I hope that you aren't the only survivor- that would be a terrible burden to carry." Oyaji admitted, before his tone grew more cold, "But that does not change who you are- what were you doing? You are Fire Nation after all." he asked- the Prince's face growing angry with frustration- his quest was the consequence of the greatest dishonour a man could suffer, and with his ship gone, how could he complete it.

"I was exiled- years ago- my people don't want me as much as you do." he told him, the honest pain in his voice making even the rather suspicious man before him nod in concession, "The only way I could redeem myself, it's dead with that ship- I don't have anything now." he told him with frustration, touching his scar with a feeling of hatred, toward not the man who had given it to him, but the world.

"If that's the case, I don't think you'll pose any issue to our island." Oyaji admitted, giving him a warm smile in understanding the better fate he could offer, "But if you are exiled as you say, perhaps you might be inclined to stay here on our island for some time- you can repay the villagers whose medicine was used to help you." he explained, the Prince nodding as his anger faded, knowing the debt he owed them.

"No I understand- thank you, truly, I owe you my life as it is." he told the old man, who raised his hands to dismiss his rather bold claim.

"I did not save you- the ones you should be thanking are the Kyoshi Warriors." he admitted with a chuckle, indicating out the room, before Zuko tried to move himself up, only to grunt in pain, "I wouldn't try and get up for a while- I'll be sure to get someone to feed you later." he assured the Prince, who fell back onto his back and nodded.

"Thank you, Oyaji." he addressed him, whose eyes looked to him with sympathy.

"I hope we made a good choice in helping you, Fire Nation." he told him with a sense of doubt in his voice, Zuko grumbling in pain before waving him off.

"As soon as I can actually walk, I'll get right to it." he assured him, the village leader chuckling before he left the house.

He rolled onto his side and tried to get comfortable, knowing his injuries weren't going to heal at a moments notice; he was in a slight daze by the time he heard footsteps approached the house, and Zuko raised his head, to see one of the Kyoshi Warriors standing before him- this one wasn't in the house before tending to his injuries; she looked him down with an intense glare, to which his eyes widened- the girl before him did not trust him, or like him in any sense of the word.

"So- you're not Unagi lunch, are you?" the girl questioned him, the Prince shaking his head.

"I'm not- sorry, I don't think we've been introduced- I'm Zuko." he told her with a low-effort wave, raising his hand a few inches above the ground before dropping it again.

"You're an ash-maker- why did Oyaji do something as stupid as to let you off? Your people aren't trustworthy." she grit her teeth, the girl stepping closer and leaning over him.

"I'm an exile- I'm not leading an army onto your island, am I?" he questioned her, the girl rolling her eyes at him.

"Shut up- if you try anything- and I mean anything, I'll be sure to get my katana through your gut." she warned him, before a voice called out from behind her.

"Amari!" the voice addressed the girl- Zuko recognised the voice as Suki's, one of the girls that had been helping him.

"What?" she questioned, the other Kyoshi warriors voice growing closer.

"Stop harassing him- he's not going to hurt anybody, even if he's an ash-maker." she demanded of the girl, to which Zuko assumed made Suki her commander.

"I- come on Suki! This guy has crazy firebender written all over him!" she told the other warrior, making Zuko chuckle out loud; her eyes turned to the Prince with suspicion.

"What's so funny?" she asked him suspiciously, to which he pulled as smug a face as a half-conscious and injured person could.

"You've got the wrong person- my sister's the crazy firebender." he jested to her, the girls face turning to scowl.

"See- you're related to a firebender! You must be one of those idiots who thinks the Fire Lord is the greatest person to walk the earth." she accused him, who was taken aback by her comments- Fire Lord Ozai was his father, but he had no assumptions that he was the greatest person in the world, although it was a general belief that to be Fire Lord, you had to be pretty great- it was a sensible thing to say.

"Stop it now- if you don't I'll put you on armour cleaning duty for the next week!" she declared, the girl finally turning away from Zuko and pacing out of the house in a fit of frustration.

As Amari left the house, Suki entered in return, glancing at him with a reserved glare, "So Zuko, congratulations on not being Unagi lunch." she applauded him with a rather dry tone.

He cleared his throat and nodded, "Uh- thanks- did you want the Unagi to eat me too?" he asked, the Kyoshi Warrior rolling her eyes.

"Amari's smart, but she makes a lot of assumptions." she admitted with a tone of distaste, obviously taking no pleasure in reprimanding her subordinate, "I'm here to handle your transportation." she admitted to him.

"Wh-what?" he asked in confusion.

Suki clarified, "I mean to say, you're not sleeping in this house- somebody lives here- you're just lucky no one's sleeping in our dojo, at least not on purpose." she explained to him, who good eye narrowed in interest.

"A dojo huh- where your warriors train?" he asked with curosity, the girl looking at him with disbelief.

"Uh yes- a dojo is where people train." she told him with a tone that indicated she thought he was sounding pretty stupid.

"Oh sorry- no it's just we don't call them that in the Fire Nation- different words for the same thing." he tried to explain away his rather idiotic sounding question.

"Yes- I'm sure once you're out of your current state you might find some use in the dojo." she admitted, the Prince's brow furrowing.

"To train?" he asked her, the girl looking at him with a tone of humour.

"No- I was more thinking to clean- it's not everyday that you find some extra hands to tend to stuff." she told him in a dead serious tone- he realised Oyaji wasn't joking around when he told him he would be repaying his debt to the village.

"But could I train- I'm- uh- good with swords." he told her, the warriors face turning suspicious.

"And here I was thinking you weren't a threat- perhaps Oyaji should reconsider..." she told him, Zuko realising after a few moments that she was making a joke.

"Very funny." he sarcastically told her with a roll of his eyes, making her chuckle at him.

"We'll see if you're good enough to be trained by the legendary Kyoshi Warriors." she boasted herself, before turning around, "The stretcher will be around in a bit- see you later, ash-maker." she addressed him, the Prince scowling at her insult.

"Could you people stop calling me that?!" he asked her with a near-shout, making her scoff as she continued walking away.

"Sorry didn't hear that." she lied as she left him be in the house, the Prince turning to roll back onto his back- the pain had eased somewhat since he woke up, but he doubted he would be able to walk even by the end of the day.

His mind turned to the worries that had been plaguing him ever since he awoke- his ship was gone, and maybe his Uncle and the crew as well- he was stuck on an island with a debt to a bunch of strangers who probably expected him to serve them; on top of that the people of Kyoshi Island didn't know he was a Prince, and he wanted it to stay that way- if they found him out, perhaps more people would agree with Amari than less. He sighed as he knew he was to be relegated to a practical servant for the meantime- he smiled at though that at the very least he wouldn't be thrown to the sea-serpent instead. Prince Zuko just might have died in a shipwreck, but Not-A-Prince Zuko could probably still irk out his existence on a backwash island for long enough to find out if his Uncle and crew hadn't found themselves at the bottom of the sea, or worse, in the gut of that damned sea-serpent.


	2. Punching Bag

_Watching in awe of his sister's sets was a thing Zuko would never admit- he would tell her that he was studying her techniques to become a better bender, but then again she could probably see through any lie he threw her way; her rigid, quick and unnerving style of bending was something that he tried to attain for himself, to much frustration- she could outperform him in bending, so he found himself relegated to watching her practice._

_As she finished a set, throwing a wave of fire into the wall of the training room, she glanced his way with a raised brow, "Zuzu- why are you watching me again? Don't you have something better to do?" she asked him mockingly, the Prince refusing to take the bait._

_"I am here to learn- and I think I'm learning... maybe." he told her, his lack of confidence clearly audible in his voice- she didn't take pity from his words, and he never expected her to._

_"Well- you do want to achieve your sweet vengeance with Captain Zhao, do you not?" she asked her brother, whose eyes lit up with determination._

_"Yes- yes I do." he confirmed, his sister chuckling at him and pointing._

_"Well then- maybe you should do a little more than watching." she indicated, her brother's eyes widening in realisation- she wanted to spar with him, or at the very least, she wanted to beat the crap out of him and make fun of him afterwards._

_"You want to spar?" he asked her with genuine curiosity- he was unsure of her motivations, but he didn't bother to dwell on it- Azula's thoughts were a box that no one would try to open._

_"Yes- now get up." she commanded of him, her brother begrudgingly following her orders to stand up and take form, making her scoff at him._

_"Not with that footwork, Zuzu- copy what I just did, maybe that will help you when I try to burn your toes off." she grit her teeth in ordering him once more, the Prince rolling his eyes._

_"_ _You're not going t-" he begun, only to be cut off by her sending a barrage of small fire balls at his feet, harshly singing his boots and heating up his feet to point of pain._

_"Ow! What was that for?!" he questioned her in a fit of anguish, his sister shaking her head with disappointment._

_"Always be prepared for a fight." she told him, before raising a brow, "That's what it says on that dagger of yours, doesn't it?"_

_"Never give up without a fight." he corrected her, the Princess grinning at him deviously, moving back into form._

_"You best take that advice before I burn your toes off, Zuzu." she chided him before throwing a fire ball at his feet again, the Prince sidestepping out of the way before throwing a fire ball at her in return, which she dodged with a swift motion; she then threw a cutting wave of fire at her brother, who was forced to fall down in fear of being burnt._

_He grit his teeth at her as he tried to pull himself back into a firebending form,_ _"Come on- my feet still hurt." he complained, his sister simply throwing another fire ball at him, that he deflected with a fire ball of his own._

 _"_ _I order you to continue fighting." she declared, Zuko rolling his eyes._

_"I'm not your servant." he simply told her as he took form._

_"No- but you might as well be one if you can't fight me." she told him with a mocking grin, making the Prince glare at her and try to imitate her form, before he decided to reiterate the dagger's advice with a steely glare._

_"Never give up without a fight."_

* * *

Zuko never thought he would hate getting up with the sun, but as it turned out, spending one's early mornings cleaning a dojo was an excellent way to start hating it; he had been doing odd jobs around the village for the past few days, since he was strong enough to do work. He reiterated to himself every time he thought it was bad that he should consider what it would have been like to be eaten by a sea-monster, and that would sharply improve his view on things- but the old 'Unagi lunch' mentality wasn't going to stop him from growing frustrated with every passing day. He was a Prince- or at least he used to be, and Princes weren't expected to go running around serving people like a slave; he understood the situation, a debt is a debt- but even a debt shouldn't require him to be doing such menial work- he would be better suited to doing things he was good at, but Zuko then came to understand most of the things he was good at involved him ordering other people around. If there was a time that he had felt pretty much worthless, it was when he ran a mop over the floor of the damned dojo.

As he continued to wash the dojo floor, he heard footsteps approaching the building, and he raised a brow in thought- perhaps the villagers were getting to work- he knew that he couldn't be the only one awake- the sun was already rising higher in the sky, and he believed it was about time someone else pulled their weight other than the shipwrecked foreigner. The paper door opened and he was greeted by a rather smug grin, one which he knew belonged to the one Kyoshi Warrior who still had the audacity to make his life even worse than it already was.

"Fire Nation!" Amari called out, "It would be a shame-" she began, opening the door fully to reveal her muddied dress and feet, "if someone was to dirty that clean floor."

He glared at her with contempt, "It's your dojo- don't you want it to be clean?" he asked her, the girl chuckling at him with a mocking tone that he could only describe as 'Azula-ish'.

"Oh I do- but I know you have to be here until it's all fine and clean- so," she explained, taking one step onto the mopped floor, the sound of mud squishing audible, making the Prince cringe, "I'll just walk on through." she simply told him and as said, trudging through the dojo to the back to get changed into her armour.

Zuko sighed, and momentarily considered to kick the bucket of water beside him, but relented knowing that he would have to clean that up too. Pulling the mop over her muddy footprints, he cursed the girl under his breath; he knew she didn't like him, primarily because he was Fire Nation- he actually understood her point of view, but it didn't make it any less annoying when he purposefully screwed around with his work- did she want him to fight her? He most certainly did not want to reveal himself as a firebender, especially to the person who explicitly threatened to stab him. Looking at the cuts on his hands, he considered whether he could even bend properly with the injuries he had suffered- he didn't dare test it, lest he find himself on the Unagi's lunch menu again.

As he finished washing the dojo floor, he wiped his forehead before sighing with a tone of relief, "At the very least I'm done this damned dojo." he assured himself with a quiet mumble before taking the bucket over to the storage area, putting back all of the cleaning instruments back where he found them.

Walking back to the door, Zuko quickly paced his way out of the dojo, only to find himself walking head-first into a Kyoshi Warrior- flinging both of them to ground and causing two shouts of shock to emanate throughout the street; tumbling to the ground, he felt the gravel graze his arms, making him audibly whelp from the pain. The Prince grit his teeth with frustration- he just wasn't having any luck, it seemed.

"Are you okay, Zuko?" the warrior asked, her voice giving away her identity.

He glanced up to Suki with a pained face, trying to not swear at her in anger- he wanted to, he really did, but he knew he shouldn't scream at one of the only people that bothered to talk to him in the spirit-foresaken village.

"I- urgh- I'm fine." he lied, the warrior holding out a hand to help him up, the Prince begrudgingly accepting it; she glanced into the dojo and noted it's clean interior.

"I see you've finished up here- thanks for cleaning it up again, I've seen how bad it can get." she thanked him, shaking his hand as he was raised to his feet.  
He nodded, and despite the pain in his hands, continued to feign his mood,

"It's fine- I'll go and- uh- what else did I need to do this morning?" he asked her, knowing that she and Oyaji had personally overseen the creation of a timetable of sorts for the chores he had to complete while in the village.

"Collecting firewood for the village." she told him, making him cringe in thought of having to carry wood with his now scratched up hands; she noted his rather dour face and smiled to him, "But that's just for this morning- you still have a lot of time to do it, how about you come help us train- that must be a little more enjoyable than wood collection." she offered, the Prince's brow furrowing at her offer; he would usually fight with his bending, but he was a skilled swordsman as well- he considered that could perhaps better his skills by watching the Kyoshi Warriors.

"I guess." he admitted, not wanting to sound overly eager, lest she get suspicious about his past; he had tried to keep mentions of his life to a minimum in the village- the most he had told anyone in terms of sensitive details was Oyaji, and that was simply to argue himself to be a non-threat.  
Following her back into the dojo, he noted Amari standing in, waiting for Suki to appear, only to find out that Zuko was following behind, "Why is he here?" she questioned, Suki rolling her eyes.

"He's here to help us train... and before you ask, you can't beat him up." she clarified, making her subordinate pout.

"Aw- that was what I was looking forward to." she admitted with a tone of sadness it made Zuko shiver- she really did want to fight him.

"I'm going to get my armour on- please refrain from trying to fight each other in the mean time." she addressed the two of them, each glaring each other down momentarily.

As Suki left to go to the change-rooms, Zuko turned to lean his back onto the wall, while Amari stood nearby, momentarily glaring at him before leaning back on the wall herself, waiting for her fellow warrior to return. Glancing at him, she furrowed a brow with a face of confusion- he knew she was going ask him a question, he just begged to the spirits it wasn't going to be a stupid or offensive one.

"What's with your hair?" she asked him curiously, the Prince looking back at her with slight annoyance- he knew exactly why he held his hair in a phoenix-tail with the rest of it shaved off, but he didn't want to explain that to anyone, especially someone like Amari.

"None of your business." he grit his teeth before glancing the other way, looking out of the front door.

"Well- it seems a little unusual to shave all your hair except that ponytail." she told him, with his face turned it was hard to tell if she was genuinely curious or just trying to rile him up.

"It isn't meant to be like this." he simply told her, his tone angry- his anger was directed at the girl behind him, but rather at the world as a whole- why had he been condemned to banishment and then this? He tried his hardest to be the son his father wanted, and he lamented at the sight of where that got him.

"What's your deal, huh?" she pressed, his hands clenching to hold back his anger- he didn't want to tell her his feelings- she didn't deserve to hear what he had to say- all she had done was mock him and doubt him.

"Do you really want to fight me?" he asked her with the darkest, most threatening tone he could make- he was channelling his inner-Azula, although it didn't achieve the desired effect when he heard her begin to laugh.

"Hahaha- fight you? Oh, I'd like to see you try- we're no push-overs, us Kyoshi Warriors." she boasted, Zuko turning his head to glare at her side-on.

"Do you have any broadswords?" he asked her, the girl raising a brow at him.

"Broadswords- oh, so you're that kind of guy."

* * *

Tying on the last pieces of her armour, Suki stretched her arms to check if she was still flexible enough to spar; she smirked at the motions she could make with her fans, knowing that she was still in as perfect form as she could ever be. As the Kyoshi Warrior walked from the change-room, she begun to catch what she assumed to be Amari and Zuko bickering- of all the times when she might think like a parent it was amongst those two- holding them back from throwing fists at each other. Amri was a skilled fighter, as good as her in most regards, but he was an enigma to her; he looked like he knew how to fight, although most of the time when such topics were mentioned he would claim he didn't want to. A part of her sympathised with the sentiment, not wanting to have to do something even if you could do it, but another part of her wanted to see him fight properly, mostly because it intrigued her.

She could hear in the distance, "Broadswords..." being uttered by Amari, which made her raise a brow in interest- perhaps they were talking about fighting; the Kyoshi Warriors fought with katanas, but she assumed in the Fire Nation people would use similar kinds of weapons.

A moment later she sidestepped into the room, "What is this about broadswords- I can hear you from the other room, you know?" she chided them both, Zuko shaking his head.

"It's nothing." he dismissed the issue, making her raise a brow; perhaps she assumed correctly- he didn't want to fight, even if he could.

"I think he wants to spar." the other Kyoshi Warrior indicated to her, making Suki glare at her; they had been planning for their own spar, and her trying to get out of it to beat up their dojo's cleaner was one of her more stupid ideas.

"Don't think you're getting out of our spar- I'm going to make you step down on that arrogance, Amari." she told her subordinate calmly, the smirk across Suki's cheeks making her fellow warrior shrink back in fear.

"Y-yes boss." she agreed, walking over to the other side of the dojo, where she stood and took form, drawing out her fans; in response, she made the same motions, glaring at her subordinate once more; if she wanted to spar, she was going to fight someone who wanted to fight her back.

Amari raced forward first and used her fans to strike at her opponent, throwing her strength into hitting her extremities; Suki agilely avoided these attacks and used her own fans to whack her opponent in the chest, throwing her to the ground. She rolled back around to take a lower stance folding one of her fans to use like a rod, striking at Suki's legs- she was able to make a strike, but not before she was hit across the face with her opponent's fan- flinging her to the side, barely remaining on her feet. She chuckled at Amari as she fell to the ground, but she quickly returned to her feet and ignored the obvious pain in her face; as much as she wanted to win, she couldn't help but admire her subordinates determination to fight. Both continued to strike back at each other, blocks and counters stopping either from seriously hitting the other; after a few parries however, Amari found an opening and struck her leader in the shoulder, which forced her to back down. Before she could make a final blow however, Suki leaned in under her attack and hit her shin with a folded up fan that made the other warrior whelp in pain before she was held down in a lock, fan held by the neck.

"Good job Amari- that's the longest you've lasted." she noted of her subordinates handiwork- if anything she was impressed by her; she was usually knocked down after a few hits, but she was becoming better at dodging or blocking her knock out strikes; noting Zuko looking at them with interest- she knew that he might have taken interest to their fighting- she wouldn't have suggested he join them otherwise, "So are you interested in our techniques, Fire Nation?" she asked him, who rolled his eyes at his nickname before nodding.

"Hmph- you're pretty good for non-benders- but I've seen better." he admitted, making both her and Amari's eyes open wide; calling them good for non-benders implied that he knew of people better than them or even that he was better than them; she took the opportunity to ask the question that had been bugging her ever since she saw his unconscious body on the beach.

"What really? What do you know about fighting?" Suki accused him, the boys eyes opening wide and cringing in fear; she wondered if perhaps she had stepped on one too many toes.

"Uh- I- uh-" he begun to mumble, before Amari pointed a finger at him.

"Broadswords- he said something about broadswords." she told her, to which she narrowed her eyes at Zuko, thinking that he might be either arrogant or well-versed in fighting- she secretly hoped for the latter; if he thought he was good at broadswords, perhaps he could stand up against a Kyoshi Warrior- in a controlled environment, of course.

"So- you think we're not better than you?" she questioned him, irritated by his apparent arrogance; he cleared his throat and shook his head, making her furrow a brow in interest.

"I'm not that good- I was talking about my sister's friends- they're both scarily good at fighting- one of them doesn't even use weapons!" he explained to them, Suki raising a finger to her chin- hand-to-hand combat was something the Kyoshi Warriors were skilled in, but it intrigued her to hear of something far better- perhaps there were more skills for them to learn as warriors.

"No weapons, huh?" the other warrior asked him, making her roll her eyes at her comrade's poor attempt of interrogation.

"Chi blocking- if you thought bending was bad- wait until you see someone who can paralyse you and stop benders from being able to bend." he warned them, the two of them raising brows.

Suki acknowledged the idea she was given, "Huh- doesn't sound like a bad technique- actually kind of useful." she noted, glancing to her comrade who nodded in agreement.

"Yeah- that's- huh- wait!" an idea popped into Amari's head, leading to her point at Zuko once more, "Can you teach us it! That's a valid chore right?" she asked her comrade, whose eyes narrowed in confusion; Suki thought that was an unusual chore to give, and made a wide assumption that he could even fight- seeing other people beat other people up wouldn't necessarily make one skilled.

"I have no idea how to do it." he simply told them, Suki nodding in comprehension, knowing that option was out- but she knew that after he mentioned broadswords that there was another one.

"Hmm- well then, while we're waiting for the other girls to show up, how about you be our practice dummy." she explained to him, who raised a brow at her.

"Practice dummy?"

"You stand still, hold a pole and we disarm you and knock you over." she explained to him, making her comrade grin in realising the opportunity she had to beat him up.

Zuko sighed, "Can I defend myself?" he asked, the head warrior nodding with a smirk; as much as she would like to see him beat up Amari, she knew she shouldn't give him free range- it was meant to be practice for them not him- she reminded herself that they weren't to be helping their potential enemies improve in their fighting skills.

"Well- I'd like to see you try." she admitted, turning over to the the wall and grabbing a pole-arm, throwing it to him; he grabbed the glorified stick with ease, making her raise a brow and smile, impressed by his movements.

"Nice reflexes."

She heard Amari mutter under her breath, "Elite soldier." making him glare at her with contempt, Suki standing between them to prevent him from beating her with his stick.

"Now, now- I want you to defend yourself Fire Nation, not beat up Amari with a stick... despite how funny it would be to watch." she admitted, making her comrade look on in horror.

"Wh-what you're meant to be on my side!" she exclaimed, to which the boy chuckling under his breath at her over-reaction.

"Okay- I'll step back- no skull cracking, okay?" she clarified from the two of them, the girl begrudgingly nodding while the boy stood in slight fear of her.  
She knew that her fellow warrior ought to be able to beat Zuko if he was an arrogant ass, but otherwise she knew that he might put up a good fight, and that was exactly what she wanted- Amari couldn't achieve her full potential just fighting other Kyoshi Warriors.

* * *

Standing with the pole crossing over his body, he hoped that he could defend himself well enough with it to avoid being embarrassed- he might be disguising his identity as a Prince of the Fire Nation and a firebender, but that didn't mean he couldn't beat up some arrogant girls if need be; Amari reminded him too much of his sister, that it actually made him disdain and fear her more than he ought to- she was only a non-bender after all.

"Begin." Suki ordered her subordinate, who nodded before drawing out her fans with speed, quickly beginning to strike at the pole; he saw she was trying to disarm him, and quickly moved his hands up and down the pole to avoid her hitting them, before he used the pole to push her back at the opportune time.

The Kyoshi Warrior grit her teeth at seeing him competently defend against her attacks- she did want to prove herself, it seemed, and if beating up Zuko was what it took, she was more than willing to put her all into it. Retracting one of her fans she begun to use it as a baton, striking at the ends of the pole with force to try and force him off balance; he grounded his stance and used the force against her, swinging the other end of the pole around to whack her away.

"Try again." Suki commanded her, souring the other warriors mood further; his eyes opened wide as she swung around and sliced clean through the bottom of the pole with one before striking his shoulder with the other retracted one, making him wince in pain.

"Urgh- could you not- I'm a person remember." he grumbled, Amari raising a finger at him.

"Ash-maker." she simply responded, before sending hit after hit with her fans to try and disarm him once more, Zuko finding it harder to defend with less pole to work with.

Retracting both of her fans, she blocked his parry with the pole, leaving him open to be struck in the side with another, making him wince in pain, stumbling back as he tried to catch a breath. He immediately thought to himself that it could have been worse- he could actually have been fighting Azula; it would be far more painful and disheartening than some random non-bender beating him up when all he had to defend himself was a glorified stick. Flinching forward from her attack, he struck her head straight on with the stick, although she quickly recovered from the blunt hit, whacking his stick away with her fan; in the moment he lacked any practical defence, she threw her hand forward, thrusting a retracted fan right into his nose, the audible cracking noise and following blood spurt made him reconsider this spar- wood-collection might have been a little better. Falling backward he pinched at his nose, grumbling in pain from the injury; he knew he couldn't keep standing there- his instincts advised against it- his memories did too; Zuko recalled the words on the beloved dagger his uncle had given him, the weapon that was probably at the bottom of the sea at the moment he thought of it.

"I'm not giving up." he muttered, Amari chuckling as she stood over him.

"What? You're going to keep going?" she scoffed, "Tough guy, are you?"

Grabbing both parts of the stick as batons, he pulled himself up and wiped the blood from his nose, staring his opponent down before taking form; he wasn't going to stand and take the beating he was receiving- he didn't learn the dual dao for nothing. In response she took her own stance, Suki raising a brow at what looked to be a proper spar- it was in every regard to Zuko, except for the fact he couldn't burn his opponent alive, something she was giving him good reason for. Amari raced forward first, sending one fan to strike one of his batons while the other went to hit his abdomen; he didn't simply hold off her fans, he sent the second one flying out of her hand as he struck it with all the force he could muster. Her eyes opened in shock and fear as she realised he wasn't just taking her hits, he was going to actually spar her; holding his batons defensively once more, he blocked a number of of quick punches and strikes from her fan, his batons deflecting or absorbing each hit. Finding his opponent quickly becoming exhausted from her agile but rather poorly aimed hits, he held both his batons up to block her attacks before swinging them around between her hits, flicking both batons at her fan-holding arm, disarming her of the weapon; Zuko smirked at the sight of having practically beat her, pulling his batons down to show that he was concluding the spar.

Suki turned to face him and clapped her hands, "Well, that was unexpected- where did you learn that?" she asked, Amari immediately muttering under her breath.

"Fire Nation Army." she told her, Zuko rolling his eyes.

"No-" he simply told her before turning to the head warrior, "I learned from Master Piandao- he taught me the way of the sword." he explained, the girl raising a brow at him with interest.

"Way of the sword- is that a fancy way of saying you know how to beat up people with sticks?" she asked him, Zuko rolling his eyes at the jest.

"I could use swords, although I'm unsure you people-" he indicated to Amari, "would trust me to do so."

The antagonistic warrior nodded with a smug grin, "That would be correct- that is a Unagi feeding degree crime." she made up on the spot, Suki narrowing her eyes at her subordinate.

"That's not a thing- as much as I would like there to be an codified legal system based around the Unagi, there actually isn't." she argued, making her fellow warrior chuckle at her suggestion.

"That would make things more efficient." she nodded, glancing at him suggestively.

"Could you stop trying to get me killed?" he asked her with all seriousness, the warrior laughing at him.

"Until you prove yourself not to be a war-hungry psychopath who goes around burning down villages, I would say no." she argued, Suki rolling her eyes and indicating to him.

"Does this guy look like he burns down villages? The weird hairstyle's intimidating- but what else could you say makes him look like any less a village-burning psychopath than yourself." she argued, Zuko cringing again at the mention of his hair- he had never considered it much during his time banished, but his hair must be quite weird looking; his phoenix-tail was a marker of his identity, the last strings he held to his honour as a Prince- it was like a part of him that he couldn't bear to lose, not now, after all that had happened- no ship, no uncle, no annoying crew members.

"Urgh- whatever- I still want to win a fight against his ash-maker." she argued, raising her fists toward him, who dropped the two batons in response, knowing he ought to give her a fair fight; the sound of the dojo door sliding open could be heard behind them, making them all glance to see Nakata and Sawa looking at them with slight concern.

"What did we just walk into?" Nakata asked them, Amari grinning before stepping closer to her opponent.

"Me kicking this ash-maker's arse." she told them as a matter-of-fact, making him scowl at her.

"I beat you the first time." he told the other warriors, the leader raising a finger.

"He's not lying- beating a Kyoshi warrior with sticks is truly a sight to see." she admitted, making the other warrior flush red with embarrassment.

"Hey- I thought he wasn't going to be fighting back." she argued, making him chuckle at her reaction.

"I simply evened out the odds." he told the girls, Sawa stepping forward holding out a few coins.

"Who wants to make a bet?" she asked the other warriors, a smirk appearing between Suki's cheeks.

"Hmph- place your bets girls- I want to see if Fire Nation is as good as he seems." she smirked at him, the Prince sighing.

"I'm going to spend the rest of this morning getting beat up, aren't I?"

"It's a valid chore- I think we can all agree." Amari piped up, making him glare back at her with utter contempt.

"Do I have to break your nose to make you shut up?" he questioned her, the Kyoshi scoffing at him as she took form once more, the rest of the warriors standing to side intently waiting to see their spar begin.

"Try me."

* * *

Applying the medicinal paste to his face once more made Suki want to laugh, but as he cringed in pain, she knew she ought to respect his efforts; Zuko turned out to be a mediocre practice dummy, but a brilliant sparring partner. An unfortunate side-effect of that fact meant that he found himself beat up a number of Kyoshi Warriors- he did beat a few, but after a few blunt hits to the head, it became a challenge for him to fight at all. As she applied the paste she placed it over all of his bruises that had been inflicted by fists or fans, either way he didn't look to be in the best mood after taking the beating he did; he edged back as he accidentally touched the scar around his left eye, making her moved back in recompense.

"I'm sorry- do you want me to not touch it?" she asked him, the boy looking away, seemingly ashamed; she placed a hand on his shoulder, "It's okay- you don't need to tell me how you got it, but you do need to rest now- seriously, I'm pretty sure Amari concussed you that second time." she advised him, Zuko nodding, not making a word as she continued to apply the paste to his face.

"You're all pretty tough fighters." he admitted to her, the Kyoshi Warrior chuckling at him.

"Well yeah, it's our job to be tough- if we weren't then who else would keep the peace." she told him with a sense of pride, before raising a brow at him, "Why did you keep on fighting? I'm sure wood-collection would have left you in a better shape."

Zuko sighed with a tone of disappointment, "My uncle gave me a present a long time ago- a dagger." he begun to explain, "I always had it with me, and it had a very wise inscription on it- something I have always taken to heart." he told her, making Suki chuckle in thought, having seen what he had just experienced.

"'Turn every situation into a fight'?" she questioned him, making him look at her with confusion.

"What? No." he dismissed her idea, his reaction making her snicker, "'Never give up without a fight', that's what it said.

"Suki raised a brow, "That's an interesting proverb." she acknowledged, Zuko shrugging.

"It's from the Earth Kingdom, actually- probably some old generals wisdom or something like that." he explained to her, making Suki smugly grin.

"Well we Earth Kingdom people are a lot like that, aren't we?" she jested, making the boy shiver in thought.

"Amari could use a little less fighting." he admitted, making her laugh at him.

"You just don't like getting beat up." she concluded, to which scoffed.

"Does anybody?" he questioned her, to which she raised her hands.

"Well you are right." she admitted, before pointing at him with a smirk, "But you must really not like it- you want to be the best one in the room- why else would you beat up Amari?" she questioned making him roll his eyes.

"Because she's been bullying me for the past four days straight, that's why." he grumbled.

"Ah so it's a revenge thing." she jested, making his eyes widen in consideration.

"Hmmm- she does remind me far too much of my sister." he admitted, making her inch closer in interest.

"Your sister? The one with non-bending friends and is a firebender." she recalled his mentions of her, making him nod in affirmation.

"Yes- she's a very good firebender, and probably just as good at hand-to-hand fighting." he admitted, before scowling, "Amari reminds of a non-bending version of her- just as annoying, just less of a chance of getting set on fire."

"That would be funny to see- did she beat you up all the time?" she intruded, curious if that was why he felt so antagonistic towards her fellow warrior.

"Maybe."

"Maybe?" she questioned with a smirk, "What kind of answer is that?" making him inch away and scowl at her.

"The kind of answer you're not getting."


	3. The Power of Tea

_Zuko took his sets very seriously- he told himself constantly that his bending needed to improve if he was going to have any chance of defeating the Avatar; the drive he had to get better didn't help him when he would disobey his uncle's advice and push into his sets furiously, becoming sloppy more often than not. His uncle shook his head in disappointment as he threw a volley of fireballs at his sparring partner, one of their ships firebending soldiers, unable to make any real effect with his attacks._

_"Zuko, you're doing it wrong- firebending comes from the breath, not the muscles!" he gritted his teeth, shaking his head at his nephew's show of force._

_"Breath, uncle?" he questioned him with grit teeth, before shouting out into the air, breathing flames out into the air._

_"No need to be a show-off." Iroh chided his nephew, "You cannot improve if you do not master your basics." he advised his nephew, who rolled his eyes._

_"I need to learn the advanced sets uncle- how else can I defeat the Avatar when I find him?" he questioned his uncle, turning to face him with narrowed eyes and grit teeth, infuriated by his uncle's relenting to teach him advanced firebending._

_"Once you can breathe properly, then you can firebend." he simply told him,_

_"No advanced sets are going to save you in a fight, your breath will- the better your breath, the better your bending." he spelled it out his nephew, who grabbed in nose-bridge in frustration._

_"I am not doing another session of breathing exercises with you uncle, for the last time." he grumbled, his uncle shaking his head before sitting down on the mat he had laid out on the deck._

_"Fine- if you're not going to the breathing exercises, at the very least try this tea- it may help you calm down." he explained to Zuko, whose eyes widened in anger._

_"I don't need any calming tea!" he shouted, much louder than he had before._

_"No need to shout- but I do implore you, it is quite delicious." Iroh advised his nephew with a smile; he begrudgingly pulled himself down to a seated position across from his uncle, who poured the hot steaming tea into two cups and indicated to his one, "Please, nephew- one day you might realise the importance of tea in your life, and on that day you will know I was right all along." he advised his nephew, who scoffed before sipping lightly from the teacup._

_"Yeah right." he chuckled at the possibility, sipping from the cup and raising a brow, "Hmph- it does taste and feel nice." he admitted, his uncle grinning at him as he clasped his shoulder._

_"Acceptance is the first step on a path to understanding the greatness of tea." he jested at him, making Zuko roll his eyes._

_"You do know how stupid you sound when you say that, right?" he asked his uncle with a sense of doubt, making him double down on his stance._

_"No to the contrary, I am being completely serious, tea is a window to many new things in life- you never know what you'll learn over a cup of tea." he indicated, Zuko taking his advice as something to do with politics and diplomacy._

_"Well, tea does calm people down, and is a good conversation starter." he admitted, furrowing a brow in interest, "Why didn't the Fire Nation conquer the world with tea instead of armies?" making his uncle laugh at him._

_"That's an excellent observation nephew, I'm sure you'll take it to heart once you become Fire Lord." he told his nephew with a tone of confidence, to which Zuko looked down into his teacup._

_"Yeah- when I become Fire Lord..." he mumbled, thinking about the task that he still had to complete, still seeming insurmountable in his eyes; his rather serious thoughts were interrupted by his uncle leaning forward with wide eyes and a grin._

_"We will have a national day of tea appreciation- you have to promise me that!"_

* * *

Zuko's face began to pale in near horror upon realising that he may have made a grave mistake; the Kyoshi Warriors were sitting all around the small serving table, and each of them held a teacup in hand- he had served them all tea, and from the looks of it, they had not enjoyed it.

"It tastes a little... off." Esumi admitted as she placed the teacup down on to the table; Nakata nodded as she placed her teacup onto the table.

"Yes- it's not right- a little too weak." she affirmed her comrade's position, making the Prince facepalm; of all the things he could stuff up, it made his gut wrench to ruin tea- it was like he was spitting in his uncle's face, despite him not even being there.

"So it's not poisoned?" Amari raised a brow, making him scoff at her continued consistency when it came to her attitude toward him.

"For the last time, I'm not trying to kill you." he grumbled at her, the other warriors laughing at them both, knowing the rather tense feud they held to be rather stupendous at times.

Suki raised a finger, "The tea is tolerable- but where did you get the idea you could make it?" she asked him, who drooped his head down in shame.

"Too much encouragement." he admitted- his uncle prodding about tea so much had made him believe that he could successfully brew it himself, only to find out that he wasn't very competent- at the very least he put the spirit into making it; a few moments later he came to realise his grave mistake- his uncle always boiled his water with firebending, not the coals that the village used- and Zuko had refused to firebend since arriving on the island, lest Amari attempt to disembowel him.

Sawa raised a brow at his reaction, "Is it normal for him to get this sad about anything? I don't think I've ever seen Zuko get sad." she asked her fellow warriors, rather than addressing the man himself.

He raised his head to glance at them and shook his head, "Uncle- it's just my uncle." he simply told them, not wanting to start sobbing about how he missed his uncle and his damned tea, because that was most certainly the most embarrassing truth he could ever speak.

"Nevermind- the tea was great!" Nakata tried to assure him, making him wave off her compliment.

"No, no, it wasn't that good- I'll figure it out eventually." he told them with a sense of doubt in his voice; he knew he probably could never stand up to be as good a 'tea-master' as his uncle, but he could most certainly try, "I think I'm better at fighting than making tea."

The Kyoshi Warriors all looked at him skeptically- each one of them had beaten him at least once, and he hadn't at all maintained a winning streak, other than when he used his baton tricks- something that continued to confuse them; to Zuko they were simply really blunt swords, but to everyone else, he probably looked like an idiot.

"I mean, we haven't seen you actually use swords yet, have we?" Esumi considered, making Amari furrow her brow at him.

"Under no circumstances are we letting him use a sword- unless miraculously we get invaded by the Fire Nation, and he doesn't join their side, in which case I will rest my case and gladly let him chop up some firebenders." she argued, making Suki scoff at him.

"I mean we could actually let him use one of our training katanas- I'm sure it wouldn't hurt- they are literally blunt as a stick, remember?" she explained to her fellow warrior, who shrugged before glancing Zuko's way.

"You can't kill anyone with a wooden sword, can't you?" she asked for clarification, Zuko raising a finger.

"Not by using it like a sword." he noted, the warriors chuckling at his suggestion, "I would have better luck with my bare hands." he admitted, making Suki scoff at him.

"That is objectively false- have you seen how many times we've beat you hand-to-hand? I don't think you've ever won." she argued, the Prince raising a finger.

"I beat Sawa that one time- remember?" he piped up, the said girl frowning at him as she rubbed at her nose in remembering the experience.  
"I think you broke my nose- it really hurt, you know?" she glared at him, making him think back to when Amari had broken his nose; the reaction he took was rather a lot more stupid than Sawa's however, as she didn't continue to fight for the rest of the morning.

"Yeah that doesn't count- nose breaks are dirty tactics." Nakata piped up, Suki indicating to him with a smirk.

"Exactly- you're an honourable fighter, are you not?" she questioned him, to which Zuko relented nodding immediately, considering the last real fight he had partaken in didn't exactly end very well for his opponent.

"Most of the time." he admitted truthfully, the girls looking to him with interest.

"What is that supposed to mean, Fire Nation?" the head warrior questioned him, making him cringe in thought of what he had done that day- it felt like a long time ago for Zuko, but the look on his enemies face was ingrained into his mind; he reminded himself that he deserved it- after what he said, he had to be punished.

"I fought someone who had dishonoured me- and I don't think I treated them honourably, not that they deserved it to begin with." he explained himself, not wanting to get into the details.

Amari raised a brow, "W-wait!" she shouted with a thought in mind, "Was this one of those duels- whatcha-ma-call-its- uh- help me out here, guys?" she asked her fellow warriors, unsure of the name of what she was thinking of; Zuko knew exactly what they were thinking of, but he wouldn't tell them, because Not-A-Prince Zuko wasn't a firebender.

Esumi furrowed a brow, "You're talking about some kind of fire duel thing, right?" she clarified, Amari pointing at her and nodding confidently.

"Yes- yes- because we all know that Zuko is definitely an ash-maker." she explained, making him scowl at her- even if he was actually a firebender, he couldn't stand being addressed by that title.

"I'm not an ash-maker!" he scowled, making Suki chuckle under her breath.

"He is, if you call bad tea ash, however." she corrected, making him facepalm in frustration- he just wasn't going to get a break from jests, insults, and stupid invasive questions.

"Do benders learn how to fight with weapons?" he asked them, knowing that it was usually taboo for them to do so, unless that weapon explicitly extended upon their abilities.

"Not usually." Amari admitted, making him smirk at her and chuckle.

"Exactly- I am skilled with the sword- if you could give me one, I'm pretty sure I could douse your fears." he argued, before furrowing a brow, "Actually I'm seriously concerned- why are you only worried about firebenders but not about non-benders?" he asked them, Suki raising hand as a smirk appeared between her cheeks.

"Because we can beat every other non-bender we fight- unless of course, you'd like to break that record, Master of the Sticks Zuko." she jokingly bowed to him, making him scowl.

"They're like swords, you get that right?" he asked them, Nakata cringing at his suggestion.

"Yeah except they can't, you know, cut anything." she simply stated, making him tilt his head back and roll his eyes.

"That's not the point- it's about the motions and flow, not about if I can cut something." he explained, Suki leaning across the table to smugly grin at him.

"Okay, now you're sounding too wish-washy for this to be a joke." she admitted, glancing to the girls, "How about we get him a sword and see if he's making this up or not?" she suggested, all the warriors excluding Amari nodding in agreement.

"Well majority rules-" she indicated to her rather antagonistic comrade, before turning back to Zuko, "and if you beat us all- then we'll get you some proper tea." she offered, making him pale in realisation.

"I'm actually going to fight a bunch of face-paint wearing girls over tea." he muttered to himself in considering the stupendous nature of the situation.

* * *

Her face paled in sight of Amari begrudgingly surrendering to Zuko who held a katana at her neck; Suki didn't actually think that he was being serious when he was babbling on about 'the way of the sword', but as it turned out, she was wrong- he was being dead serious. He had fluidly used the katana like a sword-master, deflecting the Warriors own attacks left, right and centre, forcing all the girls to concede defeat, even Amari, as she had just seen before her eyes. The boy turned out to be rather lackluster at his hand-to-hand fighting, but scarily good at using a sword; perhaps her fellow warrior was right to be suspicious of the boy, he used the sword in such a manner that was unreasonable for a hobbyist- he must have used it practically, and it scared her to think how he had done so. Now with the other Kyoshi Warriors defeated in duels, she was the only one that stood between Zuko and a good cup of tea- that had been what she had offered, alongside dousing Amari's fears that he was a firebender; not that it was overly relevant anymore, since he proved that he was capable of defeating all of the other Kyoshi Warriors, despite not being a bender, making him just a great a threat if he ever were to actually fight them.

She stood forward without any of her weapons drawn and nodded at him with respect, "It's impressive that you beat them all- but you haven't beat me." she smirked at him, his face twitching slightly, indicating to her that he might fear her a little more than the rest of her warriors.

"I know- I'm looking forward to the challenge." he smirked at her, his face showing her the first semblance of confidence since he arrived on the island- beating the warriors had fixed his sour mood.

She drew out her own katana to fight him and took form, "As am I." she eyed him, the boy nodding and taking his own form.

Amari grit her teeth and raised a fist, "You better beat him! For our honour as warriors!" the other warriors nodding along in encouragement.

Zuko raced forward first with his sword, swinging it down to strike at her lower extremities, with Suki dropping her own blade to parry; she struck his sword up, making him swing it back around and aim it at her shoulder. She sidestepped his attack before slicing her sword sideways, toward his torso, but he turned around and striking his blade downward, nearly striking her own katana out of her hand; he sent his right elbow to strike her in the head as he pulled his blade back up, the Kyoshi Warrior whacking his arm away to avoid getting hit. She smirked at him as she swung her blade around and returned to form, waiting for Zuko to strike her back; she countered a glancing blow from the centre before he tried to go again for her legs, Suki holding her blade between her legs to deflect, catching his face with her elbow as she threw her arm upward to send his blade away from her legs. He cringed away in pain as she returned to form, confident with her defensive strategy- he had thrown his weight into his blows, leaving him open to be countered. Glaring back at her with slight contempt he began to swing his blade around casually, masking as to where he would strike, before very quickly switching sword-hands, his blade cutting right toward her right, only barely held off by her own katana being held up in front of her right side; she had forgotten that he used weapons in both hands and had nearly lost the duel because of it. On a roll, Zuko threw his strength into turning his blade around and swinging at her left side, to which she dropped own sword to deflect; his blade was deflected up and gave her an opportunity to strike back, swinging her blade high, up above his head- he flinched downward, the blade barely missing his scalp. Given her sword being above them both, he used the positioning to his advantage, drawing his blade upward swiftly to throw her katana out of her hands, allowing him to grab the blade himself and smirk on as he saw another victory in his hands.

Suki sighed with frustration as he held the blades at her- as she rolled her eyes, his face became unbearably smug- he proved his point, it seemed. Suddenly heard the sound of the girls behind her chuckling quietly, and that became laughter, confusing both her and Zuko. Only after glancing up at his face did she realise what they were laughing at- his ponytail was nowhere to be seen; glancing to the side she saw in the direction that she had swung her blade- the ponytail lying frayed on the ground, still held in its red fabric.

Her eyes opened wide in realisation, Zuko looking at her with confusion, "What's wrong?" he asked her, twitching her head to the side to indicate to the ponytail lying on the ground; the shock in his face, the utter horror, was immeasurable- whatever that ponytail had meant to him, it must have been important.

He dropped both of the katanas and fell to his knees, and simply muttered, "My honour." making her raise a brow at him- she knew of the association of hair being cut with cutting ties and dishonour, but the way in which he was treating it made her pale in fear- it was like she had taken the one thing that Zuko held dear and cut it out- quite literally.

"Zuko?" she simply asked him, unsure what to say, as the laughing behind them died down as the girls came to realise Zuko's reaction was wholly seriously.

"That phoenix-tail- it represented everything I had lost." he muttered to her, "I can't return home." he simply told her, the girl unknowing of what he actually meant- he wasn't stuck on Kyoshi Island permanently- she was sure he could eventually leave and return to his people once his debt to the village had been repaid.

"What do you mean?" she asked him, her eyes growing wide with a sense of fear- she ought to be suspicious of what he was saying- perhaps he had been hiding something from them but seeing his reaction made her only feel bad for him- she didn't understand what he had gone through, but the burn mark across his left eye gave her a good idea.

"I was banished from my home- given an impossible task- and now- there's no ship- no uncle- just me on this island, hoping that I can redeem myself one way or another." he explained himself, the vagueness only giving her more questions, but she knew she shouldn't ought to push.

Placing a hand on his shoulder, she gave him a warm smile, "How about we get you that tea, Fire Nation?" she asked him, the boy's eyes lighting up with a little hope- at the very least, perhaps the cup of tea he had wanted might help.

"I would like that." he muttered under his breath, giving her a warm smile of his own as she offered out her hand to help him up, to which he accepted.

Nakata's eyes opened wide as she chuckled at the sight before her, "All of this for tea. Damn- you must really like tea, Zuko." she admitted, making him chuckle.

"It's not for me- it's to remember." he admitted, the smile on his face staying there, an unusual sight for all present.

"Remember what?" Suki asked him, the boy looking back at the phoenix-tail that lay on the dojo floor.

"Who I am."

* * *

Holding the warm teacup in his hand, it's aroma made Zuko reminisce back to his time on his ship, something that he found to be quite unusual in hindsight; he had hated his time on the ship, wanting to find the Avatar, so he could redeem his honour and return home as Crown Prince and heir of his father. But what it really made him think of was his uncle- the man who had accompanied him to travel around the world for three years in vain; he truly hoped that his uncle was okay after what happened on the ship- he knew as soon as he could, he would try and find him, so that they could complete his task together- no matter if he amazingly found the Avatar by pure chance, without his uncle by his side, there was no hope for victory. He was thankful that the warriors had let him use a sword once more- he hadn't used his dao in a long time and he relished in fighting with a blade once more- it was one other connection he had to his childhood and the better times of his life. Losing his phoenix-tail had shattered part of his identity, but he knew that the other things that defined him couldn't be taken away from him- he could still fight with a sword like Piandao taught him and he could still appreciate tea like for his uncle's sake; perhaps once he left an island full of paranoid peasants, he could perhaps relish in the power of his bending, and reminisce on his time spent fighting Azula as a child- frustrating memories were memories none the less, no matter if they were happy or not.

Suki glanced at him, staring at him in a way that made him slightly uncomfortable, "So, is the tea good?" she asked him, making him chuckle lightly in response.

"Yes." he admitted, "It's a good cup of tea." he was genuinely thankful that the warriors had gone out of their way to find the best tea leaves in the village and make sure he could enjoy a good cup of tea- it was a reward for his rather surprising victory, and he was glad that he could find some enjoyment out of it.

The lack of a weight at the top of his head made him feel like he was missing part of himself- but tea reminded him of what he really needed- it wasn't ever just a cup of tea that his uncle would force down his throat, but calmness and advice that he would continue to hold onto, despite refuting and arguing against it at the time. For three whole years his uncle had been his guide, and in drinking tea, he reminded himself of his uncle's wisdoms, as to keep himself mentally focused, as to be sure he did not stray from himself- that he was still Prince Zuko, even if no one on Kyoshi Island knew his true identity, or why he had ended up there in the first place.

"So- what do you think- will you spar with us more often?" Nakata asked him, the Prince sighing and shaking his head.

"I get beat up more often than not-" he explained himself, his eyes glancing at Amari momentarily, "and I have other things to do- my work keeps me busier than not- I don't want to be stuck on your island forever, no offense." he admitted, Suki chuckling at him.

"None taken- if I was stuck in the Fire Nation and had to do what you do, I'd want to get it done as quickly as possible." she sympathised with his situation, making him smile back.

"Thank you- I just feel a little weird in a place like this." he furthered, looking back down at the teacup in his hands, "It's very different to what I'm used to." he admitted.

Sawa leaned closer with interest, "So what did you do before you got stuck here?" she asked him, the other girls eyeing him in agreed interest- he hadn't actually explained his banishment or anything of the likes, and he didn't intend to.

"I sailed around the world- it was kind of nice at some times, but I just wanted to return home." he told them honestly, avoiding the actual details that might incriminate him.

"Your uncle- he was with you?" Suki asked him, who nodded in acknowledgement.

"Yes- my uncle is my teacher of sorts- he's helped me along the way, and also annoyed me to no end." he admitted with a chuckle considering the dynamic he had with his uncle- he was a helpful person to have around, but more often than not he got on Zuko's nerves.

"Did you fight as much with him as you do with Amari?" Esumi asked him with a smirk, making the mentioned girl glare at her fellow warrior with distaste.

"No- my uncle and I never really fought as such, that was me and my sister." he admitted, making Amari roll her eyes.

"So you're comparing me to the firebender sister- I take great offense to that." she gritted her teeth, making him shrug with a rather smug grin.

"I mean she's scary, tough, and always beats me, so really you should take that as a compliment." he argued to her, although he knew he wasn't telling the whole truth about his sister- he didn't even think he knew the whole truth about her.

Drinking from the teacup again, he smiled at the taste and the warm feeling it brought to his insides, "I never thought I would ever miss tea in my life." he admitted to them, making Suki chuckle at him, raising a finger to her chin.

"You never know how much something means to you until you lose it- or something like that." she tried to quote a proverb, making him chuckle- such a phrase would likely be uttered by his uncle, although maybe he might have had a more positive spin on it.

"Yeah, something like that."

* * *

Holding a teacup between his hands, the retired general Iroh sat by a small chimney fire, the orange flames tinting his line of sight, but the warmth and delicious taste of the drink did not stray his mind from what he had been focused on for the past two weeks; his nephew had disappeared when their ship was attacked in the dead of night, and he had every reason to believe his nephew was dead. He knew well enough why that was so- the waters were rough and there was a chance whatever explosions rocked their ship had grievously injured him anyway; he didn't want to believe it to be true, not after what had happened to his other son. Zuko was just as much his child now as Lu Ten was- he had raised him for years, when his father took no interest to him other than to brand him for speaking the truth; for the first time in many years, Iroh could most certainly claim he was angry- this was his fault in part- if he had not let his beloved nephew be banished, then he wouldn't have been the situation he found himself. He considered if he should have just taken it upon himself to fight his brother in an Agni Kai in the first place and just end the war then and there, but he knew that chaos and destruction would have ensued- the needless suffering of others shouldn't be in his hands; he knew it was selfish of him to think that, and now he knew he had paid a dear price for it. Zuko should have been his heir, he should have been there to guide him, but he had simply sent his nephew down this horrible, tragic path, all because he was a coward; Iroh never wanted to admit it, because it would be accepting defeat by the hands of his hateful brother but after realising what had happened, he knew that it was the truth- their ship had been destroyed and his nephew lost all because of his cowardice- the death of Lu Ten, his brothers seizure of power, Zuko's banishment and now this.

"I will not give up." he muttered to himself, tears falling down his cheeks in thought of his nephew, "Zuko would never give up." he assured himself, looking down to the ceremonial dagger he had gifted his nephew all those years ago.

He thought that perhaps his time at sea would help his nephew to see the world and come to achieve some sense of enlightenment; in a way he did, but not in the way he wanted him to- Zuko was always a driven boy, but with everything he had loved taken from him, he desired nothing more but to get it back. Then there was the rivalry- the hatred he bore toward a certain Commander Zhao- it had run deep in his nephew's psyche- and after his banishment, it was one thing that he held onto with dear life; his niece had given no help in that regard, but at the very least it gave them something to do other than fight each other. That rivalry had led to a certain Agni Kai a few weeks prior where Zhao was stationed- the Prince desired a resupply at the port, but the Commander decided to host them for the evening, leading to Zuko declaring an Agni Kai; he had doubted that his nephew would have done so well, but in the end, he couldn't help but feel dread as his nephew's hand burn off his opponent's left-eye, even worse than what his own father had done to him. Zuko hadn't talked to him about it afterward, and actually refused to discuss it for days; he thought he had to help his nephew, after what he did he must have been shaken to the core- but he never had the chance, for him to find peace with his nephew and his actions.

A door-knock broke his chain of thought, making the retired general glance behind him to see Lieutenant Jee standing by the doorway; the man was saddened by the sight of the old general feeling down, and Iroh tried to smile to alleviate his worries- his men truly cared for him, after all the three years they had spent together, and he cared for them back- they shouldn't have to worry about him, his problems were his own.

"General- a ship has arrived in port." he explained, to which he raised a brow.

"Fire Navy?" he asked for clarification, the Lieutenant nodding.

"After our message for assistance, a number of officers offered their help- they were begging to be the one to help the legendary General Iroh." he explained with a slight chuckle, making Iroh laugh.

"Yes- my renown is of great help at times, is it not?"

"Indeed- I would guess you will need to go talk to their commander, debrief on the shipwreck and all of that." he explained, the retired general smiling in agreement.

"That would be right." he agreed, his face turning more solemn, "I need to find out what happened- for my nephew's sake." he told him, Jee nodding back at him with a serious face.

"We will find out what happened General, it is our duty- he was our Captain- he is the son of the Fire Lord, not some random ship-hand." he assured him, making the old general curtly smile at the Lieutenant's show of respect toward his nephew; the two of them hadn't ever been on the best of terms, but even he held respect for Zuko, despite his bouts of anger and teenage antics.

Stepping up from his seated position, Iroh followed Jee out of the door to return to the outside world, making him squint as the morning sun beamed down on the port-town- they had taken up residence in am old wooden cottage which he was able to pay for with what money he had left- soon enough they would have to return to the homeland, unless they miraculously regained a ship. As they walked down the path, the people looked in interest at the old general, whose obvious ranking attire made him stand out amongst the locals; the town they had found themselves in was like any trading port, with a number of differing nationalities, despite being theoretically under the control of the Fire Nation. Soon enough they gained sight of the port, and his eyes opened wide upon seeing the ship that had come to help them- a proper Fire Nation battleship, towering above the stone pier that led out into the water; the old general's brow furrowed in thought- there wasn't many commanders, or admirals in any case that would be frequenting these waters- the southern seas were primarily guarded from foreign threats by the Southern Raiders, and this ship most certainly did not belong to that rather distasteful organisation.

"Who exactly has come to assist us, Lieutenant?" he asked the man beside him with interest as they continued their walk down toward the pier.

"Zhao- Admiral Zhao." he admitted, the old general's eyes opening wide in shock- Zhao had gotten a promotion, even after his dishonouring by the hands of his nephew and only a few days after their ship had been sunk by somebody- someone they didn't even see- he had thought it had been pirates- perhaps the Southern Water Tribe, but no- it was clear now who was responsible and who had everything to gain from his nephew's disappearance.

"Do you know how I got the title Dragon of the West, Jee?" he asked him, the Lieutenants brow furrowing.

"No, sir." he admitted, making the old dragon chuckle; the dagger he held in his pocket was to give him the most sound advice that he had ever given his nephew.

"You may just find out."


	4. No Honour

_Iroh seat on the edge of his seat, unable to do anything as he saw his brothers silhouette approaching his beloved nephew; as the flames of the Agni Kai chamber lit up his nephews face, he could clearly make out Zuko's look of utter fear._

_"Please, father. I only had the Fire Nation's best interest at heart. I'm sorry I spoke out of turn!" he pleaded to his father, the retired general knowing it would do nothing to change his brother's mind- Ozai was to make an example out of his nephew, and he had no right to intervene now._

_"You will fight for your honour." the Fire Lord demanded of his son, who could only look up as he fell to his knees before him._

_"I meant you no disrespect," he told him, tears running down his face, "I am your loyal son." he tried to tell him, tears falling down his cheeks; Iroh paled realising that Zuko was refusing to duel his father, and he knew exactly what that would mean- Ozai didn't take kindly to cowardice of any kind._

_"Rise and fight Prince Zuko!" his father demanded of him again._

_Zuko's head dropped, looking in shame of his actions, "I won't fight you."_

_The retired general wanted to cry- he wanted to throw his fists at his brother and protect his innocent nephew from his deranged father- but he knew he couldn't do anything- if he came from his seat, the Fire Lord would demand an Agni Kai of him as well, and that would lead down a path Iroh was unwilling to take._

_"You will learn respect, and suffering will be your teacher." Ozai declared, setting his hand on fire; the retired general couldn't continue looking at what he saw- it was too painful for him to watch what would come next; he heard his nephew scream in pain as his father burnt his face._

_It was his fault- he shouldn't have taken him into the war meeting; he had sent Zuko down this path, and his nephew had paid the price- it was not fair- and it made his gut wrench in fear for his nephew's future. If Zuko was to be banished or thrown out, then he would have to follow, there was no other way- he had to own up to his actions, and if staying by his nephew's side no matter the cost was his fate, then he would gladly accept it. Then he heard the most unexpected thing- not his brother declaring his son a coward or anything of the likes, but his niece, who sat in the row before him, glancing up toward him with a face of abhorrence- he thought for a moment she was looking at him, but he inched his head to the side to see Captain Zhao smirking at the sight of his nephew's suffering- it made his gut wrench that anyone could gloat at what he had just seen._

_His niece's words came off her tongue in a calm but threatening tone, "Don't gloat too much, Captain." she muttered, Zhao's face turning toward Azula with disbelief, "This has sealed your fate- do you know what my brother will do to you now?"_

_"Wh-what do you mean? Your brother has disgraced h-" he begun to argue for himself, the young Princess cutting him off._

_"You will burn- and if you do not burn by his hand, I will gladly take up the honour." she warned him, the Captain stepping out of his seat and quickly pacing away in a slight of fear; Azula chuckled momentarily before glancing further behind her to another man- General Bujing- the man whose very plans had roused his beloved nephew to speak out of turn in the first place._

_"Your fate is all the same, old man- you shouldn't have roused the dragon." she simply told him before getting out of her seat and leaving without another word, Iroh's eyes opened wide in shock to what he had just observed._

_He realised in that moment that his niece mightn't have been the girl he had assumed her to be- a callous and spiteful little girl, yes- but he never thought Azula would take it upon herself to defend her brother, even after he had just disgraced himself in an Agni Kai against their own father. For the first time in his life, he had felt a tinge of pride to be the girl's uncle, despite her holding as much love for him as his brother did; the Dragon of the West did not want to see his nephew suffer any further, and he had an inkling of hope that his niece could perhaps be redeemed- caring for a sibling was one small step, but it was a step none the less._

* * *

Walking up the gangplank of the towering steel battleship, the retired general caught eye of the man whose callous smirk made him want to belch; he had not an inch of evidence to support his claims of guilt on Zhao's behalf, but Iroh knew that he had done it- who else had the motivation to try and sink their ship, and perhaps inadvertently kill his nephew. He wanted to stay positive and believe that Zuko was alive and well, but he knew that in the chance that he had perished, the Admiral could not go unpunished for his sins; this was not a justice to be served by the spirits, or the Fire Lord, or anyone else in any matter- the Dragon of the West would avenge his nephew, because if he couldn't do that, then he wasn't worthy of the boy to begin with.

"General Iroh, it's a relief to see that you are faring well." the smug looking Admiral introduced, bowing curtly to him in a sign of respect to his former title.

"I am a little worse for wear- sea-sickness is a terrible thing; I must say, your face has improved since the last time I saw it." he admitted to him with a slight smirk- if anything, he wanted to rub in what had happened a few weeks prior on that fateful evening; Zhao's left eye was covered by his malformed and burned skin, while the rest of that side of his face was red and bruised from the burning his nephew had delivered, giving him an equally permanent badge of dishonour.

"Y-yes." he concurred with slight frustration- it was the kind of loaded statements that Zhao would make to spite his fellow men- it was only time that he heard it from someone he couldn't talk down; Iroh might have failed in Ba Sing Se, but he was still one of the most renowned figures in the Fire Nation as the former heir to the throne.

"Well, General- now that we're here, should we discuss the matters at hand- perhaps over a warm cup of tea?" he asked him, who couldn't help but chuckle- he couldn't deny a good cup of tea, even from an enemy.

"Do you have any ginseng, it's my favourite?" he requested, the Admiral twitching his head before nodding.

"I'm sure we will have some in our supplies." he assured him, the general smiling back with a false face of respect- he wanted to seem as non-threatening and possible; asking for a good cup of tea would make Zhao feel a little more comfortable, but it would not make him any safer in reality.

Zhao sent off one of his men to get a tea-server, while he and Iroh stood by the railing off the boat, looking out onto the calm waters; the Admiral glanced his way with ever so slight apprehension, "General, I am sure that your nephew will be found- what befell your ship was tragic- some where saying pirates were involved." he argued to him, the retired general ignoring his lies.

"I hope he is found, but I do not think you should be so optimistic." he simply told the Admiral, whose functional eye narrowed in confusion.

"Why so- the Prince is still the heir to our great nation, is he not?"

The older man's eyes glinted with contempt toward him, "If he lives, there will be nowhere safe for you." he simply stated, holding his hands out on the railing casually, ignoring the face of fear borne by Zhao.

"I- I don't know what you're talking about- what is done is done, he won our Agni Kai, did he not?" he questioned the retired general, who smirked at him in a manner that he would only ever see his brother or niece do so, but the old dragon was angry, and angry dragons spit flames.

"Oh- what is done, is done- that's exactly why I am here to share a cup of tea with you."

"Yes- the ginseng will be out any moment." the Admiral assured him, indicating to his guards to get the tea-servers to hurry up.

"I think you misunderstand me, Admiral." Iroh indicated as he turned to face him, "What is done, is done- all actions have consequences."

Zhao's eye opened wide, before he gritted his teeth with frustration "You aren't the Fire Lord, I outrank you- take your accusations elsewhere." he demanded, making the Dragon of the West simply chuckle in response.

"I am not here as General Iroh, but as an uncle who has lost his nephew- no title will save you, neither me."

"Guards!" Zhao shouted out, the men aboard the deck bearing their weapons and fists towards the old, seemingly harmless looking man.

"You are a fool, Zhao- an utter fool." he chided him, before he bellowed out fire from his mouth, flinging the Admiral and his men back as he stood in firmly, his power revealed- the Dragon of the West did not die in Ba Sing Se, he was simply sleeping until he was roused from his slumber.

Zhao looked around at his men who trembled in fear at his show of power, "What are you doing- attack!" he screamed at his men, trying to scramble to his feet as Iroh approached him.

The old general dispersed the blasts that were thrown at him, and no non-bender dare get close to him with a weapon; Zhao's commands did rouse a sizeable defence, a crowd of men surrounding him, ready to take on the mythic Dragon of the West. He sent out a beam of fire at Zhao, who was unable to disperse it and was forced backward, the flames licking his armour; the Admiral threw back his own flames before there was too much of a crowd for either to hit the other. Pikes facing him in every direction, Iroh bellowed out flames once more, only to find himself held back from Zhao by the pure number of soldiers surrounding him; he began to throw fire blasts and the soldiers swarming him, forcing most of them back, but suddenly he felt a heavy feeling on his legs- chains had been whipped out along his ankles to hold him back. Throwing his fists around, the retired general continued to fight on, knowing that his nephew would have it no other way; the flames burned around him, soldiers yelling and whelping in pain, but eventually two chains found themselves around his wrists, leaving him bound and unable to use anything but his mouth to bellow flames. Eventually he even stopped that, panting in frustration- he was so close, but he knew it had to end this way- even if he could easily smite Zhao, he couldn't fight a whole unit of soldiers.

The gloating Admiral approached him with a smug face as his soldiers held him down, "General Iroh- how do you think your brother will feel hearing that you have committed a treasonous act against an honourable officer of your nation?" he questioned the older man, who chuckled under his breath.

"It does not matter what the Fire Lord does to me." he simply told him, before he begun to shake his head, "Did you not listen to what she said?" he asked him, the Admiral unsure of what he was referring to before the realisation paled on his face.

"She wouldn't dare- the Crown Princess is loyal to the Fire Lord- such actions would be treason." he argued, the old general sighing; treason was a word that meant nothing to something who would stop at nothing to destroy those that had wronged them.

"Treason did not stop my brother seizing the throne- it will not stop her from destroying you." he asked Zhao, the soldier's faces paling along with his own; the old general had said the one thing that no one ever ought to say about the Fire Lord.

"Your words will cost you your head, old man." he chided Iroh, who laughed at him.

"She will finish what Zuko started- she does not rescind her promises."

* * *

Dropping the bundle of sticks he held into the basket outside of the last house in the village, Zuko wiped the sweat from his forehead in a sense of relief; his numerous tasks that he had to complete for the village were strenuous and frustrating, not to even consider how denigrating it was for someone who was once the heir to the Fire Nation. Knowing that he had completed his work for the day made him feel calmer than he had when carrying bundles of sticks and pieces of firewood around the village; he felt his stomach grumble and decided he ought to go have dinner, something that was provided to him each day in exchange for his labours. The sun was sitting just over the horizon and the sky was washed with pink and orange, a pretty sight, even a gruff teen like him could admit that; he drudged his way downhill toward the main hall of the village, where Oyaji was standing waiting for him, a small smirk on his face.

"I see that our firewood has been handled well- thank you, Zuko." he addressed the Prince, who bowed slightly to the old man.

"It was no worry- may I get my dinner?" he requested, the village leader nodding and indicating for him to enter the hall with motion of his hand; following in he was bathed with the warm light of the hall, where a large communal kitchen was cooking the dinners of each of the families- not everyone had time to cook, so it was more effective to have a coordinated effort to feed the village.

He approached the server, whose name he remembered as Sekino, who gave him a smile, "Here for dinner, Zuko?" she asked him, to which he gave a curt nod; as friendly as people on the island were he wasn't one for small-talk.

She handed him a small dish of rice, fish and greens to which he smiled back, "Thank you, Sekino." he addressed her, the woman smiling back at him.

"No worry- you have a good night."

He smiled back at her before walking out of the door, giving a curt wave to Oyaji before walking back down toward the Kyoshi Warrior's dojo; despite having been in the village for weeks now, he hadn't actually found himself a proper place to stay- the dojo was a large spacious building, but it wasn't very warm and there weren't many utilities for him to use. He sat himself down on the porch of the dojo, using a set of chopsticks to begin eating his food. As he chewed down on the food, he felt relieved to no longer have an empty stomach- the relative cold of Kyoshi Island was not helpful in regards to his eating patterns; on the ship he was used to three meals a day in the warmth of a coal-fired vessel, but on the island he was constantly exposed the cold and had less food to eat. He thought he might have lost some weight, especially as he wasn't keeping to his strict firebending regimes that he had on the ship, seeing that he hadn't firebent once since he woke up from the shipwreck.

His dinner was interrupted by the sound of a familiar voice calling out from up the street, "Fire Nation!" he didn't appreciate that Suki would continue to call him by the title of his background, as if to cut down his character to that one facet- he wasn't going around calling her 'woman' or 'Earth Kingdom'.

"Hi." he mumbled under his breath, continuing to eat his food as she approached him with her own dinner in hand.

"How was the firewood collection?" she asked, making him huff and shake his head.

"Not fun, if that's what you were wondering- I finished it, so that's something."

"We have you to thank for our warm houses." she smiled at him, making him chuckle.

"Huh- I don't have a fireplace in the dojo." he noted, making her raise a brow.

"That is true- but I'm sure if we let you have fire near you for an extended period of time Amari would have a panic attack." she jested, both of them laughing at the girl's expense, "But seriously- you've really been helping out the village." she thanked him, the boy shaking his head.

"You and the Warriors saved me- not the other way around; it's my honour to help your village, as much as I am afraid of being eaten by that sea-monster just in the bay." he admitted, making her smugly grin back at him.

"No worry Zuko, I'm sure you're safe from being eaten by the Unagi now." she assured him, the Prince sighing with exaggeration.

"Thanks a relief to hear." he admitted, before taking another bite of his dinner.

"So- what will you do once you've repaid your debt?" she asked him, the Prince shrugging his shoulders; he had been so caught up with all his obligations on the island that he had forgotten about his true goal- to find and capture the Avatar to redeem his honour, but more preeminently, he knew that he had to find out what happened to the rest of his crew and his uncle.

"I have to find my uncle- he must be out there somewhere." he lamented, Suki's eyes opening wide with sadness- for all either them knew, his uncle and everyone else on the ship could have perished in the attack that destroyed his ship.

"You shouldn't give up hope- you'll be able to find him, I'm sure of it." she affirmed him, placing a hand on his shoulder, the Prince sighing with a sense of dread.

"I hope so- I don't know what I'll do if I can't find him." he admitted, the Kyoshi Warrior chuckling at him.

"You can always stay here- just because you're Fire Nation doesn't mean you aren't welcome." she assured him, the Prince shaking his head; he knew he had to find the Avatar, to redeem his honour- he couldn't think of any other path to take- he had to go home, some how.

"I need to get home." he simply told her, the girl's eyes dilating for a moment before she nodded, turning away to eat her meal.

"Y-yeah- of course." she acknowledged, taking a bit of food to chew with her chopsticks.

He glanced over to her and sighed, "But there's little chance of me getting there- what I was asked to do- I don't even know if I could ever do it." he admitted, Suki raising a brow.

"Impossible task, you said?" she asked for clarification, Zuko nodding.

"Impossible enough."

"One task can't be the only way to redeem yourself, can it?" she questioned his logic, the Prince scoffing at her assumption- it was the only way he could get home- the Avatar had to be captured by him, a man that had been missing for over a century.

"Yes- it's the only way I can get home." he told her, to which she furrowed a brow.

"There's got to be something as equally important as that task, isn't there?" she asked him, the Prince sighing in frustration; there wasn't many things equal to capturing the Avatar- perhaps conquering Ba Sing Se was the only thing that could compare- all others had failed in that task.

"Maybe- but those things would be hard to achieve- very hard." he told her, the Kyoshi Warrior smirking at him with a little hope.

"But not impossible?" she asked for clarification, making him roll his eyes.

"Yes- not impossible."

"Well then, it's sorted- you just go find that thing you need to do, and perhaps we might give you a hand." she offered him, the Prince nearly coughing up his dinner.

"Uh- the Kyoshi Warriors?" he asked her, Suki shrugging.

"Well yeah, who else?"

He considered telling her outright that she wouldn't probably want to conquer Ba Sing Se or something equally stupendous, but he decided that he ought not to reveal any more of his identity or ideas on how to reclaim his title as Crown Prince; she was an Earth Kingdom peasant after all, she couldn't understand why he would need to do the things he needed to do.

"I- uh- thanks, I guess." he stuttered, unsure what to say, making her smile at him wholeheartedly, before her eyes turned upward to scan his scalp.

"In the meantime, maybe you can grow some hair- being completely bald doesn't suit you." she admitted, the Prince self-consciously touching his hairless scalp- after his phoenix-tail had been cut off, the Kyoshi Warriors helped him shave off the awkward looking stub of hair that was left over.

"Thanks for reminding me." he sarcastically remarked, making her chuckle at him, before raising a finger to her chin.

"Why did you have it cut like that anyway?" she asked him, making him grimace in thought of his Agni Kai duel with his father.

"Because I dishonoured myself." he muttered in a cold tone, the thought of the experience making him feel angry- his own actions had led him down this path, he told himself- the lives of any man in that division he had tried to save were lost the moment he spoke out as he did.

Suki seemed awkward and unable to respond to his simple comment, and as such he simply returned to eating his food, the Prince scooping up the last of the meal and chewing it down, feeling satisfied with the modest meal he had received, "I must admit, the food was good," he told her with a curt smile, "but I prefer my food spicy."  
She rolled her eyes at his comment and sighed, "You Fire Nation people are weird." making him chuckle.

"At the very least we don't throw criminals to sea-monsters." he acknowledged, the girl refusing to laugh at his insulting comment toward her island's culture.

"Excuse me- the Unagi threat works well, does it not?" she questioned him, forcing a nod out of him; she was right, he fell into line very easily with that threat in mind, "Exactly- so don't make fun of us again- we do our thing, you do yours." she offered, the Prince nodding in agreement.

"My thoughts exactly." he agreed with her; a few moments later he caught a white light in the corner of his eye, and both he and Suki turned to glance at it- the eyes of the statue of Avatar Kyoshi that towered in the centre of the village were glowing a white hue.

"Does your statue usually do that?" he asked with a tone of unease- anything related to the Avatar was of his concern.

"No- that's pretty weird."

* * *

Admiral Zhao was proud of his handiwork- he had single-handedly captured the brother of the Fire Lord, and withstood the storm that was the Dragon of the West; he was slightly disappointed that he didn't get more of a fight out of the man, but then again he much preferred to return him to the capital with the side note of lacking casualties. He believed that the Fire Lord would most certainly be pleased that his brother had been finally caught enacting treason- it was no secret the two of them were antagonistic toward each other, especially in regards to the Fire Lord's son and heir, which Zhao certainly had nothing to do with in regards to his disappearance. He would never speak openly about what he had done; the Fire Lord held no good will toward Prince Zuko, but he wouldn't stand for anyone attempting to murder his blood and kin, that was a dishonour on the royal family as a whole. As long as the truth remained hidden, he was sure the Fire Lord would tolerate his son's disappearance; he had just sent a hawk to notify the Fire Lord of his brother's arrest and the Admiral's personal escort of the prisoner to the homeland. After what General Iroh had said to him, he wanted to gloat in the suffering he would endure- he told himself that he would enjoy every last moment of it, because it was his victory, and his alone. Suddenly he felt a shaking under his feet, making him raise a brow- he could clearly see the waters around the ship, and they were as clear as they could ever be; his eyes opened wide when he heard the very distinctive sound of lightning on his very own ship- the General was trying to escape, and he knew that lightning-bending was a clear sign his men weren't up for the task.

He gritted his teeth turned to enter the bridge of his shop, "My victory will not be spoiled." he uttered to himself, quickly pacing his way to the stairs that would lead him down into the brig of the ship.

The prison hold was deep in the hull, designed to make it as challenging as possible for a potential escapee to get out- but he knew all too well that General Iroh was no ordinary prisoner; the Dragon of the West was the man who was by all conventions meant to be Fire Lord, and he had the reputation to match his brother. Racing down the stairs with haste, he could make out the sound of screams, shouts and grunts of pain as a battle brewed inside the prison hold; as he approached the depths of the brig, a number of soldiers aboard joined him in heading down the stairs, all well aware what was happening. By the time he made it to the prison itself, his feet had begun to ache, and he looked in with horror; the entire prison was covered with unconscious bodies, with the Dragon of the West standing in the middle of the bodies, surrounded by towering flames- the sides of the hull had been blown apart by fire blasts and lightning, holes tearing through the prison cells and walls The old man that had retired to join his nephew was not the man standing before him- the man who would have burnt Ba Sing Se to the ground was; the old general smirked at Zhao before sending out a powerful beam of fire at him, forcing him to dodge with a roll, the men behind him took form and sent out their own beams of fire at Iroh, who deflected them back right at them.

"Fire! Kill him now!" Zhao demanded- he didn't want to return to the Fire Lord with a corpse, but that was the best he would give if the old general was to be defeated.

Along with his soldiers, he sent out wave after wave of fire at the old general, who continued to simply reflect or disperse all of their attacks, driving Zhao into a fit of rage; he would not be defeated by a mockery of firebending. He threw his weight into a powerful fire blast that he sent at the General, who literally cut in half with his hands; his fae paled at the sight as the General begun to motion his hands, sparks charging. Zhao jumped out of the way just in time before the lightning blast struck at his soldiers, sending them flying in every direction from the blinding attack; he cringed in pain as he felt the searingly hot metal floor, pulling himself up to see that the General had already made his way past his men and out of the prison.

He grit his teeth and shouted at his dazed and injured men, "Don't just lie around you idiots! Get him!" he commanded, taking matters into his own hands as he raced up to the staircase once more and followed the track of the retired general, whose smell of tea and embers was ever so distinctive.

Making his way onto the deck floor, he checked around and made out the sound of Iroh walking toward the back of the ship, racing with haste toward the sound of his footsteps; as he ran around a corner, he found himself slammed in the face by his target's open palm, his nose cracking from the blunt injury.

Wincing in pain as he fell back, "You won't get away, old man." he declared, throwing a fire ball at his opponent, who simply waved his flames away before sending a smaller fire blast into Zhao's chest, flinging him to the ground.

The Admiral pulled himself up to lunge back at Iroh with daggers of flames, only to find himself knocked back the General's signature flame breath; Zhao grit his teeth as embers singed his sideburns, throwing a flame powered punch at him, the older man simply grabbing his fist, snuffing out the flames- for his age, he held quite some strength, holding the Admiral's fist in place. At that moment, the Admiral expected a killing blow from the General, who he knew saw him as his nephew's killer, even if the boy wasn't proven dead; no blow came from his other fist, making Zhao scoff.

"Still merciful, great General Iroh?" he mocked him, to which he simply chuckled.

"This is not mercy, Zhao- there is something far worse coming for you." he reminded the Admiral of the Crown Princess; he doubted that she would have the audacity to make the same accusations as her uncle, let alone try and fight him.

"You're weak, old man- how would h-" he begun to mock him, only to find his hand burnt harshly by the Dragon of the West, before he was hit in the chest again with a fire blast, throwing him down to the ground in pain.

He screamed in agony from the burning of his closed fist, glancing back up to Iroh as he walked away without another word, "I will destroy you! The Fire Lord will have your head!" he screamed, his words ignored.

He forced himself up onto his feet and slowly drudged his way toward the door at the back of the brig, pulling himself along with his unburnt hand; as he opened the door he made sight of one of his ship's steamers being unloaded, launched off into the waters. He could do nothing but throw another fire blast at the smaller boat, to which a few moments later a zap of lightning responded, hitting his ships bridge and causing a a tremor so powerful that one could have mistaken it for earthbending- that must have been the warning shot, Zhao assumed. Watching the steamer begin to sail away, he gripped his fist in pain and screamed, bellowing fire from his mouth- Admiral Zhao was not done fighting, not until his last breath.


	5. The Pact

_Princess Azula smirked as she stood over her brother; once again she was the victor of one of their now frequent spars- he was always overconfident, overstepping his bounds and falling prey to her quick reflexes. Although he had improved over the many months they had spent sparring, she was still excelling in her sets and training, while he lagged behind, though still quite skilled for his age; he couldn't compare to her prodigy, although she knew he didn't desire to, for there was a greater goal in mind. Zhao would be defeated, perhaps not soon, but one day he would feel the dragon's wrath; the blood of the Sozin would not take the words of a weak-willed, dishonest sycophant- with her guiding hand, Zuko would annihilate him. She lent out a hand to help up her brother, who rolled his eyes, feeling frustrated in his own defeat._

_"Zuzu- you can't expect to win every time- what you need to do is know how to win." she advised him, who chuckled in realisation._

_"You're pretty tough- Zhao is nothing compared to you." he admitted, making her feel slightly uncomfortable for a moment- her brother was not one to give her compliments easily, and if he did, it was usually begrudgingly, not with any deference or respect._

_She smirked back at him and chuckled at the respect she had garnered, "Why brother, that is true- maybe I should be the one to thrash him, seeing that I'm the greatest firebender in a generation?" she boastfully asked, the Prince shaking his head._

_"No, he is mine to beat, and mine alone." he refused, before furrowing a brow,_

_"Then again, if I couldn't fight him, if I couldn't protect my honour, then I guess you could fight him." he suggested, the Princess smugly looking back with confidence._

_"Are you sure, brother? I'm sure Uncle would love to take that honour from me." she questioned, Zuko laughing at her suggestion._

_"Uncle won't do that, he's too nice- I can trust you to do it." he admitted, Azula grinning back at her brother- he held her trust in her, and she was sure to make sure it was held well._

_"Of course, Zuzu- it would be my honour." she told him with a mocking tone, making him grumble at her with slight anger._

_"Zula! I'm being serious!" he scorned her, the Princess rolling her eyes._

_"Fine- fine, I will defend your honour, brother." she agreed to him, before raising a brow, "But I expect you to do the same, got it?" she requested, or rather, demanded of him._

_The Prince was taken aback by her suggestion, but nodded confidently none the less, "I will, but I can't think how that's going to happen- you're a really good bender." he admitted, the Princess shrugging with nonchalance._

_"Well you never know, some one might be stupid enough to threaten my honour." she considered, before glaring at him, "So you will do it?" she asked for clarification._

_"Uh, yeah- why are you being so serious about it?" he asked her, looking uncomfortable with her determined disposition._

_"This a pact, Zuzu- not just a promise- you can't break it, and I can't either." she told him with an intent glare, her brother nodding with understanding._

_"Fair enough." he admitted, lending out a hand to shake her own, the Princess dutifully accepting, "For honour." he proclaimed, the young Princess smirking before tightening the grip on his hand._

_"For our honour."_

* * *

"Rise, Crown Princess Azula."

She rose to face her father, having some idea what he was going to discuss with her in the throne room; it was always official business, and she had heard that her brother's ship had been sunk in the southern seas, and with it he had gone missing- that was most probable what the issue related to. She was unsure if her brother was dead, and at that point, she didn't want to ask; her father held no great love for elder brother, whose banishment had given her far more power and authority than she had had before- she did not want her father to believe she had any worries for his safety- not that she did, she knew that her brother would fight to the last breath to remain alive.

"Yes, father?" he asked him, the Fire Lord smirking at her as his flames lowered, the throne and his seated form then revealed.

"I have heard quite troubling reports from Admiral Zhao." he begun, the Princess trying not to roll her eyes at the mention of that degenerates name- she had no idea why her father had promoted the fool after he had very publicly lost an Agni Kai duel to her brother, "It seems that my foolish brother had gone ahead and accused the honourable Admiral of murdering your brother, and attempted to kill him- he was restrained and arrested, and was to be sent to the capital." he explained the situation, Azula already realising what was going on- her uncle had tried to kill Zhao, got captured, but then escaped, "He escaped custody- and as Crown Princess, I command you to find your uncle and take him back to the capital in chains for his crimes." he commanded her, the Princess bowing with understanding.

Although she wanted to relent, she couldn't help herself but to ask her father, "Father- what if Uncle's accusations are true without doubt?" she asked, her father glaring at her with a sense of frustration- that was one situation he would not want to deal with.

"If they were so, then I would have to take the necessary actions- murder or attempted murder of a member of the Royal Family is treason of the highest order, even if your brother is banished." he considered, before sighing, "I assume you would like to deal with Zhao yourself, in that case."

"It would be my pleasure, father." she nodded with a devious grin- if there was one thing she desired more than anything, it was to fulfil the pact she had made with her brother; Zhao may have dishonoured him to the highest degree by attempting to end his life without the honour a duel, and if so, she would make sure he suffered a long and painful death in recompense- enemies of the Fire Nation could be afforded a quick and easy end, but those who dishonoured her blood would feel fury of the dragon.

"Oh, and if you do end up finding Zuko, please do remind him of his banishment terms- a near-death experience does not redeem his honour." her father clarified, to which she nodded, "You are dismissed, daughter; please, I do implore you to leave the capital with haste." he advised, before she turned around and begun to pace down the throne room toward the doors; her face turned to a scowl as she thought about her father's words- at the very least her brother deserved the chance to redeem himself, and she knew that finding the Avatar was an unreasonable a task as any could be.

As she paced away, Azula took thought to her father's information- her uncle, the man who had dishonoured himself by relenting in the Siege of Ba Sing Se after her cousin Lu Ten's death, had actually attempted to murder someone in revenge for Zuko's supposed death. It gave her a tinge of pride in her blood relative's actions, despite him being usually a thorn in her side; their rivalry for Zuko's respect was a long one, and despite in remaining unspoken, it was most certainly there. She considered perhaps that the only reason her uncle, one of the most renowned firebenders alive, would have failed in killing such a foolish bastard as Zhao is that he wanted to; perhaps he had the foresight of what her father would do if he escaped- the Admiral would be hers to destroy. She had made a promise long ago to the man as he relished in her brother's greatest dishonour- Zhao was going to burn, and she would take pleasure in every moment of it.

* * *

Lying face first on the wooden floor of the Kyoshi Warrior's dojo, Prince Zuko immediately regretted taking up the offer from Suki to learn from the Warriors properly, which had involved him taking up all of their traditions, including the silly looking make up. If that wasn't shameful enough, he continued to get absolutely pounded by the Warriors every time they fought hand-to-hand; to think that he had thought of himself being good at fist fighting before he arrived on the island make him blush with shame- he was truly overconfident in his abilities some times. The small bit of hope he gathered that was he was far better at firebending, something that would at the very least compensate for his inability to go toe to toe with Suki, who was currently holding him in a lock.

"You're getting better." she admitted to him with a smirk, Zuko narrowing his eyes with frustration.

"And how exactly is being beaten by you every time better, may I ask?" he sarcastically questioned her, the Kyoshi Warriors watching their current spar chuckling in the background, making him glare at them with contempt.

"You're too focused on winning and not on getting better." she simply told the Prince, who glared up at her with his face still held to the ground.

"Whatever- could you get off me now?" he asked her, the Warrior's eyes opening wide realising she was still holding him down in lock; releasing him, she offered out a hand.

"Sorry about that." she apologised, the Prince rolling his eyes before accepting her hand returning to his feet.

"Now- do you want to spar someone else?" she asked him, to which he simply sighed.

"Anyone but Amari- I feel like she's going to cut my throat with a fan every time we spar." he admitted, the girl chuckling, with the mentioned warrior raising her hands in defence on the sidelines.

"Hey- I haven't tried to or mentioned killing you in the past week, Mr. Art of the Sword." she defended herself, making her fellow Kyoshi Warriors, including Suki, break down laughing at him- they loved to deprecate his swordsmanship, and he thought it might be because they were jealous.

"Okay then- who else wants to beat up Zuko?" the head warrior asked out, Nakata stepping forward and cracking her knuckles.

"I could give it shot- I'll go easy on you, ash-maker." she assured the Prince, who drew out his fans and gritted his teeth.

"No- I want to do this properly." he commanded her with a tone of determination; he needed to get better at fighting, if only to distract him from the other things that were plaguing his mind at that very moment.

She drew out her fans in a similar motion and smirked at him; he knew she was one of the better fighters, and unlike Suki, he hadn't sparred with her enough to predict her hits. The head warrior dropped her fan down, signalling their spar to commence, Nakata quickly moving toward Zuko prepared to quite literally knock him off his feet; she swung her fans out diagonally toward his lower body, the Prince forced to step back before using his fans to block another strike. He retracted one of the fans in his hands, and drove it forward to knock her shoulder, the warrior whacking his arm down, forcing the baton-like fan to strike her leg, making her yelp in pain; he wanted to laugh at her self-inflicted injury, but he knew he ought to focus on fighting rather than winning, as Suki had advised him moments earlier. She fawned an attack from the left, before swinging her right-handed fan to hit his right arm, knocking his fan out of hand; with only one weapon, he used his left-handed fan to strike her own, before elbowing her as their fans clashed. She grit her teeth at him before trying to scissor him in the head with two fans, the Prince ducking underneath the attack to hit her in the gut with his retracted fan; as she flinched back, he opened up the fan and struck her right-arm, making her lose her own right-handed fan. Now with the odds evened, Zuko held back defensively with his fan over his torso, prepared to parry any of her potential hits; the warrior smirked before sweeping under his legs with a low kick, forcing him off of his feet, the boy nearly screaming in shock. Holding back a bellow, he rolled back over the floor, now finding himself in a low position while Nakata stood over him; she held her left-handed fan out toward his neck, but the Prince simply grit his teeth before kicking up at it, flinging the fan out of her hand. She looked on in shock as she was left disarmed, Zuko returning to his feet with his fan in hand.

"Good job, Fire Nation." she admitted, before bowing to him to signify her defeat; the Prince looked to the warriors with shock, who all begun to clap, even Amari.

"Congratulations- you're an honorary Kyoshi Warrior." Suki applauded him, the Prince blushing in thought that he had joined a group of female warriors, thinking to how his uncle would make jokes about it if he ever found out.

"Uh- thanks." he gave a thumbs up, unsure how to respond, before touching his face, "How do you get this make-up off?" he asked them, who began to chuckle.

Nakata raised a finger, "Uh- it's water-resistant- so, uh- scrub a lot." she admitted, making him face-palm with frustration; now knew he'd be walking around the damned village with Kyoshi Warrior make-up.

"Why did I agree to this?" he asked Suki with a sense of confusion, the warrior smugly shrugging at him.

"I don't know- you wanted a try of the fans and make-up?" she asked him, the Prince indicating to the katana on her waist.

"I'd be much better just staying with swords." he admitted, touching his face again, "Less face scrubbing."

Amari's eyes opened wide and she stepped forward with a smirk, "Hey, I know how you can get rid of the make-up easily!"

He rolled his eyes and glanced her way, "What?"

"Unagi-vomit." she simply told him, to which he relented throwing a fire-ball at her face- if she mentioned the damn sea-monster one more time, he was going to have a fit.

"No. Scrubs are in the cleaning cupboard, right?" he asked Suki, who nodded.

"Uh- yeah, are you-" she begun to ask him, being cut off by Zuko pacing away.

"I'm not wearing this make-up in public... ever."

* * *

Standing on a pier, Admiral Zhao stood watching the Princess's Royal Barge moving into port- he had been awaiting her arrival for many days, and he had been dreading it ever since the Fire Lord had sent him a message to clarify her assignment in capturing her uncle; her uncle's warning had come true, the Princess had come to collect his head, even if she came under far different pretences. He rubbed his healing right hand, the searing burns covering it creating a singing mark in the shape of General Iroh's clasping fingers; he had held no great love for the Dragon of the West, but after the injury and disgrace he had given him when rampaging and escaping his battleship, Zhao could not wait to dispense revenge on the old man, if he got the chance. The Royal Barge came to a halt as it docked, and a few moments later a gang-plank was lowered onto the pier; in the distance he could see the Princess and her Royal Guards filing down the ship, his stomach knotting with fear- he was not afraid of many things, but the Crown Princess was one of them- the last time he had saw her she was only eleven, but even then she was intimidating as she appeared today, now wearing the black armour with gold trimmings that signified her title. She approached him with a stoic elegance that even he could respect- he could not read her emotions, but he was sure she could read his; the Admiral just pleaded in his mind that she did not believe the accusations of her uncle.

"Admrial Zhao." she simply addressed him, the Admiral pulling his body down in a respectful bow- she was Crown Princess after all, and if her brother was dead, she would most certainly be the next Fire Lord, "I hope you are faring well after your... incident with my uncle." she offered him, Zhao knowing her words to be mockery of his failures.

"I- I am better- I will do everything I can to help you capture your traitor uncle." he assured her, hoping that a statement of allegiance would appease her will for the meantime.

"You will do nothing of the sorts." she simply dismissed his offer, "You have far more important jobs to do, such as hunting pirates and dealing with whatever Earth Kingdom resistance you can find on these southern coasts." she reiterated his original posting as Admiral, a position to which he had only been elevated a few weeks prior, just after his duel with Prince Zuko.

"Of course, your highness." he accepted her indirect command, the Princess smirking at his deference.

"But I must ask you, how did it feel?" she asked him, the Admiral raising his single eyebrow at her.

"Wh-what?" he muttered, the Princess leaning closer with a growing smirk.

"Your fate." she clarified, indicating to the burn that covered his left eye, which by that point he had opted to cover with an eye-patch, the eye itself being barely functional.

"I was disgraced by your brother's hand, but he won the duel, and that is what I will acknowledge." he simply told her, his spite toward Zuko not hidden in his voice.

"And then you proceeded to hunt him down in the dead of night and sink his boat." she clarified further, the Admiral's jaw dropping- he was foolish enough to think that she would simply dismiss her uncle's claims, but she would proudly abuse them, even publicly.

She turned to one of her guards, "What is the punishment for the attempted murder of a member of the Royal Family?" the guard stepping forward and facing the Admiral.

"Death by fire." he uttered, the Princess chuckling at the answer.

"How funny a coincidence." she mocked Zhao, turning to him completely calm and unfazed, "Now, consider every breath you take from this moment onward a mercy- one which I can take away at any moment."

"I- there is no proof to back your uncle's foolish claims." he argued, the Princess waving his claims away quite literally.

"I do not care for your words- I can see it in yours eyes; your hate toward my brother, I can understand it, you must miss that eye of yours." she offered with an imitation of sympathy, before smirking at him, "but you called him a spineless bastard, and he was going to have none of that- not just after he lost his beloved mother." she simply explained, the Admiral's eyes opening wide; she was talking about one thing that he had mentioned to his former commanding officer, Commander Shen, many years prior in the palace- he assumed that she must have heard him say it, and relayed it to her brother to incite his hatred toward him.

Now having connected the dots, his right eye opened wide in realisation, "It was you- you made this happen to me." he muttered in shock, the Princess smugly grinning at him.

"You are my Pai Sho piece, and you have still some use yet- and trust me, a useful Pai Sho piece is better than a useless one." she advised him, the Admiral nodding- as long as he was useful, she would let him live.

"I understand, your highness." he acknowledged with a whimper, the Princess nodding before indicating down the pier.

"Now, I feel that I have broken formalities, should we share some tea before discussing my uncle's movements?" she offered him, the Admiral bowing at her and raising a hand down the port toward his tent.

"Of course, your highness." he accepted, leading her down the pier with his guards.

Suddenly a pattering of footsteps could be heard behind them, and a man arrived with wide eyes of shock, holding an official scroll; Azula raised a brow at him and indicated for her guards to move out the way, "What is it?"

"Your highness, the Avatar- he's returned!" he exclaimed, the Princess and the Admiral's eyes both widening in shock.

"Wh-what- the Avatar?" she asked for clarification, the message bearer nodding, handing her the scroll; her eyes scanned it and she smirked once more- Zhao immediately knew she had a plan in mind.

"Now Admiral," she turned to him with a more serious face, "I don't want you getting in the way of the Avatar- if you were to be the one to capture the Avatar, my promise to my brother would come before any else- that would be the greatest dishonour to his name, and trust me when I say I do not say that lightly." she warned him, the Admiral nodding fearfully, understanding her words well enough; even though part of him knew capturing the Avatar would bring fame and prestige to his name, he knew well enough that the banished Prince's whole banishment revolved around the capture of the Avatar, and his sister would not stand for him ruining her brother's chances of redemption.

A voice in his head told him that that made it even better- he ought to capture the Avatar to spite the boy, to hell with the consequences; the Princess might try to kill him, but would she dare once he presented the master of the elements to the Fire Lord himself? There was only one way to find out, and he had a feeling he could only benefit from trying; as they paced forward along the pier toward his tent, Zhao muttered under his breath in thinking of the glory he could find.

"I am no Pai Sho piece."

* * *

Sokka most certainly did not like flying on a giant snot monster- not because he wasn't good at flying or slow, but because he attracted all the wrong kinds of attention- Fire Navy kind of attention. The fireballs being flung at Appa made him shriek in fear as Aang directed his sky-bison around the flaming balls of rock; if he hadn't proclaimed that he wanted to return home to his shit poor igloo where he ran around ordering kids to be ready to fight all day, he would have. To his frustration it had turned out that his little airbender friend was the Avatar, and his sister wasn't going to stop at just helping him- she wanted to chase him around the entire damned world.

"Can you dodge any faster?!" he screamed at Aang with fear, the usually giddy airbender grimacing as he sent Appa into a dive; through the rushing air he could hear the twelve year old shout back at him with a fearful face.

"No! No I can't!"

The Water Tribe warrior held tight to the sky-bison's saddle as they descended toward the quickly approaching ocean surface; a few moments later they begun to level out as they found themselves skimming over the waves- to their side were a number of Fire Navy ships that were still aiming their damned catapults right at him. He thought perhaps they ought to have disguised the beast they rode upon rather than leisurely flying over the ocean waters- as pretty as they were, it didn't make them hard to see from any peering eyes.

His eyes focused on the Fire Nation ships, he saw another few fireballs being flung out toward them, and he quickly turned to Aang, after which in synchronisation, both he and Katara screamed at him, "Dodge!" the airbender quickly responding by jerking Appa's reins to the right, flinging them on a harsh angle, but well out of the way of the incoming balls of death.

"Thank the spirits." he muttered under his breath as they finally begun to move away from the Fire Navy vessels, the black steel shards still sticking out of the water on the horizon behind them; glancing back at the airbender once more he sighed with frustration, "Sorry- before we were rudely interrupted by the Fire Nation trying to kill us, Mr. Avatar, I was discussing where exactly we were going- I don't exactly see much but a lot of water." he explained to Aang, who grinned his teeth at him.

"To see the giant koi fish!" his toothy grin going from cheek to cheek.

"Koi fish-" he muttered with disdain, "why?!"

"To ride them, of course." he piped up, Katara looking to him with concern.

"Like the penguins?" she asked for clarification, to which he simply continued to smile.

"Yes- but bumpier and way, way more fun- trust me- you guys will love it!" he assured them, both of the siblings looking to each other with concern.

"Aang, I know you're a little kid and you like to have fun, but weren't we meant to be heading toward the North Pole?" Sokka questioned him, the young airbender raising a finger to his chin.

"Yeah, but it would be so boring to just go there without seeing all the cool things there is around the world!" he explained himself, only furthering the Water Tribe warrior's frustrated attitude- he knew that Aang was practically delaying them for no other reason than to satiate his childish desire for fun.

"Is there anything that isn't fun that you'd like to do?" he asked the airbender, who looked at him with slight confusion before shaking his head.

"Nah- even learning waterbending will be fun, even if it's going to be hard- Katara will learn with me too!" he assured him, who shook his head.

"Ah spirits- more magic water." he grumbled, his sister glaring at him for a moment.

"Sokka, for the last time, it's not magic water- it's a sacred art of our people's culture." she told him, to which he rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, and so is carving and throwing boomerangs- I don't go bragging about that." he countered, Aang looking at him with confusion.

"I'm pretty sure there's nothing spiritual about making boomerangs, Sokka."

"Whatever- I'm just saying that bending isn't that cool." he grumbled turning around to lie down on Appa's saddle.

"I think you're jealous." his sister admitted with a face of contempt, making him laugh.

"Trust me- all I've seen of bending hasn't given me any hope for it." he simply told her, Aang turning to him with a face of regret; they all knew what happened at the Air Temple- Sokka knew he shouldn't have said what he had- the look in the kid's eyes reminded him of his own, back when he found out what had happened to his mother.

"I'm sorry for what happened at the Southern Air Temple- I lost control- I'm trying to get better, to try and understand what's happened since I left, but it's hard with how much the world's changed." he admitted to him, the Water Tribe warrior sighing with contemplation of what the world might have been like before the war; he looked to his sister, whose face showed her similar emotion- a kind of longing sadness, of something they had both never known, but felt they ought to have.

"To think we had a city in the South Pole- that would have been a sight to see." he admitted, Aang smiling at him and Katara.

"Well, if I do become good enough, maybe I can help end this war and you can get to see that city one day- maybe you can even get a better watchtower." he considered, making Sokka curtly smile, feeling a tinge of hope for their future.

"That'd be nice."

* * *

Feeling the knife cut through his top-knot, the retired General Iroh sighed with a sense of disappointment- this was not how he had wanted his nephew's banishment to end up. The personal discovery he wanted Zuko to make had never truly come to fruition, and now with his nephew's disappearance, he was unsure if he would ever be able to guide him to his attainment of self-realisation; the old general threw his cut top-knot into the creek beside him and begun to pace away, knowing that soon enough he would have to figure out something to do with himself. He had spent so long a time with Zuko had he was unsure what path to take next; he had many friends in the Order of the White Lotus that might be able to provide him assistance, but that was only a short term plan. The path he needed to take had to lead him back to his nephew, otherwise he wouldn't have any future for himself. He considered momentarily trying to guide his niece instead, but he knew she was already on a path that he could not support; his brother's influence over her was strong, but her bond with her brother was strong enough that perhaps he could find a connection there.

Following a path along the creek he had tracked up from the shoreline, Iroh dispensed of the last of his Fire Nation armour that signified any kind of rank or title; he knew he would new some new clothes to disguise himself in the Earth Kingdom- a man wearing the colours of their enemy would not likely be welcomed with open arms. He didn't know the Earth Kingdom too well, but he knew where he could find allies- there was King Bumi in Omashu, a friend within the Order who could perhaps provide him with some resources in trying to find his nephew- the problem remained of reaching the city, which he knew would take some time if he were to be travelling by foot.

Pacing his way along the path, he made sight of what seemed to be an Earth Kingdom village- a place which he could perhaps find what he needed to evade Fire Nation forces; as he walked closer, he caught the attention of local people, who gave him fearful looks, something that confused him- he would expect most Earth Kingdom villages to be antagonistic toward Fire Nation people. He glanced around at noted a tavern in the centre of the village, and quickly made pace toward it, glancing around to check for anything or anyone that might be a threat- he noted what looked to be Fire Nation wanted posters on a tree in the centre of the town, something that made his eyes narrow- perhaps the town was under Fire Nation occupation or de facto rule, akin to the port in which he and the crew had been taking refuge in. Taking a closer glance at the wanted posters, he sighed with relief seeing that his face wasn't plastered on them yet, but he knew soon enough they would be and he would most certainly need a disguise for himself.

Walking into the tavern, the retired general glanced around for anything that might be of interest to man like himself, only noting the inhabitants of the tavern to be a mix of locals an Fire Nation people, some of which he assumed might have been off duty soldiers by their common attire; he slowly paced over to the bar and sat himself down, calling over the bartender, who looked to be an Earth Kingdom local.

"Excuse me friend, do you know where I might be able to buy some clothes- my current clothes are a bit ruined." he explained to the bartender, who raised a brow at his attire; it wasn't a lie that he had told, as when he was fighting Zhao's men and escaping his ship his robes had become scorched and torn.

"Uh- you have coin?" he simply asked Iroh, who smirked back at him.

"Of course friend!" he assured him with such a piped up tone that he regretted it immediately after- he most certainly did not want to get beaten up by a bunch of thugs after he left the tavern.

"Eh- come out back, I'm sure I could sort something out for you- on the run?" he asked the old general, who chuckled.

"Well I'd call it a stroll- I'm a little too old for running these days." he admitted, making the bartender chuckle under his breath.

"Of course- follow me." he told him with a relatively quiet tone, Iroh glancing out behind himself to note the off-duty soldiers, who continued to enjoy their drinks and food, something that relieved him- he couldn't have any Fire Nation soldiers getting suspicious about an old and big-boned Fire Nation man that resembled a renowned General and former Crown Prince.

Walking out to the back of the tavern, the bartender turned to him with a set of old drab clothes that looked like they would fit him comfortably; he accepted them with a smile before reaching into his pocket and handing the man a number of Fire Nation coins.

"Go buy yourself something nice- you've truly helped me today, friend." he assured the bartender, who shrugged and chuckled.

"Eh- not too big of a deal- just don't go around doing Fire-Nation-y things while you're in my country, you hear?"

"Certainly- the most Fire-Nation-y thing I'll be doing is treating people to my gracious tea-making skills." he explained, the man's eyes opening wide.

"Tea you say- hmph- well I do like me some ginseng, if I were to be truthful." the bartender admitted, Iroh giving him a smirk.

"I can make some if you would like, free of charge, of course." he assured the man, who smiled back at him.

"Really?" he asked with a tone of disbelief, probably not use to meeting 'nice' Fire Nation people, "I mean of course, that would be great- I have a teapot and some ginseng somewhere in my stores, so I'll go get it for you." he explained, the retired general giving a nod, his smile showing his excitement.

"I'm in need of a brew myself- I've had a rough few days, you see." he explained, the bartender scanning his clothes once more.

"Looks like it- what happened?" he asked with interest, Iroh sighing in consideration of his experience with Admiral Zhao.

"A crazy and stupid firebender."


	6. The Fool's Errand

_"What a stunning view."_

_Zuko refused to look at his uncle as they gazed upon the majestic Western Air Temple, an entire complex built upside down beneath a cliff face; he thought in his mind of what he himself wanted to see. He wanted to return home, above all things, and now being banished the only way he could was with the Avatar._

_"The only view I'm interested in seeing is the Avatar in chains." he grumbled, to which his uncle responded with a tone of sympathy._

_"You know, the Avatar hasn't been seen for one hundred years. The chances of finding him here are very slim." he admitted, making Zuko grit his teeth in determination._

_"First we'll check each of the air temples, then we'll scour the world, searching even the most remote locations until we find him." he assured his uncle, who stood beside him with a concerned face._

_"Prince Zuko, it's only been a week since your banishment. You should take some time to heal and rest."_

_The suggestion angered Zuko, who knew exactly what he needed to do to return things to normal; for his uncle to suggest such a path of action was to undermine him._

_"What else would I expect to hear from the laziest man in the Fire Nation?" he told his uncle, who sighed at him with disappointment, "The only way to regain my honour is to find the Avatar." he knew that his quest was a fool's errand, though he wouldn't dare say it; he was no fool, and he would find the Avatar, no matter how long it took._

_As his uncle walked away from him, Zuko glanced back at him with offence, "You're not going to say anything?"_

_"I've said enough." Iroh simply told him, making the young prince grit his teeth and point accusingly at him._

_"You haven't done anything, Uncle!" he told him with a shout, "I was banished and you simply tell me to heal and rest! Sometimes you make me wish I had Azula by my side instead of you- at the very least she'd actually try and give me advice on defeating the Master of the Elements!" he ranted to his uncle, who shook his head at him._

_"Nephew, I only want what is best for you. Right now, that best thing is to rest; you have suffered enough, do not put yourself through further anguish." he simply told him, Zuko glaring at him._

_"What will that do?" he questioned, "Will it give me a revelation on how to deal with the fact that I've lost everything?!" he accused his uncle, whose eyes opened wide at him._

_"I- You are your own man Prince Zuko, you have to find your own answer for that," he conceded, before looking to his nephew with sympathy, whose uncovered eye began to water, "but I'm here for you. I am here to guide you, not order you."_

_"Y-yeah," his nephew agreed, before twitching his head, "you're not the Fire Lord."_

_"And I am glad for it." he simply told his nephew before walking on further into the temple, leaving him by the balcony alone; thinking on what his uncle had just said, he muttered under his breath as he looked to the sky before him._

_"It's the only way."_

* * *

The Kyoshi Warriors had once again found some people on a beach on their island; Suki was slightly relieved by the fact they weren't lying unconscious with torn clothes like another certain person they had found a month prior, but she didn't like the fact there was some random strangers on their island. Two of them wore thick blue parkas, something she would probably associate with the Water Tribes, not that she had ever met someone from the Water Tribes, but they fit the image of it. The other one, a boy wearing an orange and yellow tunic of sorts looked quite unusual- the blue arrow tattoo on his forehead was even more confusing. She had no idea who these people were, and for all they they were Fire Nation spies; she knew such a viewpoint would be hypocritical after she and the Islanders had treated Zuko, but he seemed to be honest about his background, and looked to be a genuinely decent person.

As they dragged them to the village, they grunted and squirmed, especially their pet, which was some kind of flying rodent, from what she could tell; she and the Warriors had to hush them multiple times, and by the time they arrived back in the village, they were a lot calmer, and from the looks of it, quite afraid. The Warriors tied the group around their shrine to Avatar Kyoshi, before Suki noted Oyaji's arrival

"What's going on here?" he asked her, looking quite confused at the sight of the three foreigners.

"Some kids we picked up mucking about on the beach- they're weird looking and we have no idea how they got here." she explained, the village leader furrowing a brow.

"Fire Nation spies perhaps?" he wondered aloud, making Suki furrow a brow.

"If they were, we could get Zuko to rat some information out of them." she suggested, making him chuckle.

"Good idea- but first, let's try the traditional tactic." he told her, Suki knowing immediately what he meant- the Unagi lunch tactic was renowned and worked it's charm every time; Oyaji stepped forward to address the three captives, "You three have some explaining to do."

She stood forward as well and added, "And if you don't answer all our questions, we're throwing you back in the water with the Unagi."

One of their captives, the Water Tribe male, challenged them confidently "Show yourselves, cowards!"

She rolled her eyes and indicated to Nakata, who drew the blindfold from each of their captives eyes.

"Who are you? Where are the men who ambushed us?" the boy accused her aggressively, making her grit her teeth with annoyance; she was left indignant by his assumption that they were men because they were warriors.

"There were no men. We ambushed you. Now tell us, who are you and what are you doing here?"

The boy looked at hem with disbelief, "Wait a second," he glanced to his younger accomplice with amusement, "there's no way that a bunch of girls took us down."

Now truly offended, she grabbed him by his collar and lifted up, "A bunch of girls, huh?" she smirked at him in thought of the fate he would suffer, "Unagi is gonna eat well tonight."

The girl bound beside him looked with horror and pleaded to her, "No, don't hurt him! He didn't mean it. My brother is just an idiot sometimes." she explained, Suki rolling her eyes before releasing the boy from her grip, staring him down with contempt.

"It's my fault." the other younger boy piped up, "I'm sorry we came here. I wanted to ride the elephant koi." he apologised with a face of sadness; she thought that they were either really good at acting or they had just imprisoned a bunch of kids wanting to play around, which would make her tactics seem a little extreme in hindsight.

Oyaji stepped forward and angrily pointed at the three of them, "How do we know you're not Fire Nation spies? Kyoshi stayed out of the war so far. And we intend to keep it that way!" he told the three of them, the younger boy's face brightening up.

"This island is named for Kyoshi? I know Kyoshi!" he proclaimed, the village leader scoffing at his rather stupendous claim.

"Ha! How could you possibly know her?" he questioned her; Suki agreed with his sentiment; Avatar Kyoshi had been dead for nearly two centuries- how could a little kid know her?

"Avatar Kyoshi was born here four hundred years ago. She's been dead for centuries." he explained, the young boy looking up at the statue of the Avatar that they were tied to.

"I know her because I'm the Avatar." he told them, Oyaji looking on in shock; Suki's face paled in realisation, thinking about what she had seen with Zuko a week prior- the eyes of Kyoshi's statue were glowing.

"That's impossible! The last Avatar was an airbender who disappeared a hundred years ago." he argued, the young boy smiling back him confidently.

"That's me!"

The village leader seemed to have had enough the boy's antics, and he pointed at him while looking right her way, "Throw the impostor to the Unagi!" he commanded of her, Suki's eyes narrowing as she stepped forward, not drawing out her fans.

"If you're really the Avatar, then you can explain to me why Avatar Kyoshi's statue's eyes glowed a few days ago." she asked of the boy, whose eyes paled in shock, the boy and girl tied up with him both seemed to understand what she was talking about.

"Uh- the Avatar State." he told her, Oyaji looking to her with confusion.

"What is this about glowing eyes?" he questioned her, the head warrior turning to glance at him.

"I saw the statue's eyes glow last week when I was eating dinner- you can ask Zuko, he saw it too." she explained, before turning back to the supposed Avatar.

"So, 'Avatar'- what is the Avatar State?" she questioned, the boy cringing at her.

"Uh- it's when I get really distressed and call on the past Avatars to help." he explained, Oyaji raising a finger to his beard.

"Perhaps if we incited this Avatar State, we could prove that this is indeed the airbending Avatar." he suggested, the boy shaking his head vehemently.

"No! You don't want to do that- I could hurt people by accident!" he pleaded, the fear in his voice audible.

"Well, if you're not going to, then it's Unagi time for you." Suki simply told him, the boy inching back fearfully as the Warriors approached the pole with their fans drawn; a moment later the boy suddenly shot up into the air, dust splattering out from the ground below, before the ropes were pulled away from his body, allowing him to fly up above to land on top of the statue of Avatar Kyoshi.

"What the..." Suki mumbled aghast upon seeing the sight; a small smirk grew upon her face, seeing that the child before her really was the airbending Avatar, she knew she was right to assume that the glowing eyes had something to do with him.

"Airbender!" one of the villagers shouted out, before they were joined by a ramble of more excited shouts at the feat they had just witnessed.  
Oyaji glanced up at the boy with his jaw wide open, "It's true- you are the Avatar!"

"No Avatar State today." he smirked at his friends before turning to the villagers, "Now... check this out!" he grinned at them, spinning a number of marbles in his hands with airbending; the crowd cheered in amazement of the feat, all the while Suki simply rolled her eyes.

"I don't know how I'm going to explain this one to Zuko." she wondered aloud, thinking about the Fire Nation boy who was probably still cleaning their dojo while the ruckus of the Avatar's return consumed the village.

* * *

Zuko was unsure what shouting he was hearing outside of the dojo, and part of him wanted to peer and check out what he had just heard; the other part of him that had reason told him to keep scrubbing at the dojo floor. He knew that the Warriors wouldn't take kindly to a dirty training area, so he kept on scrubbing at the floor; soon enough he saw villagers swarming around the street outside, which he could narrowly see through the ajar front door. The sound of shouts was beginning to get on his nerves as he swept the last of the floor clean with his mop, before placing it into the bucket to drench; a moment later, the door opened, Zuko glancing to notice Suki and the Warriors filing in.

"What's happening?" he asked her, the Kyoshi Warrior glancing out the door behind her for a moment before turning back to him.

"Hmph- the Avatar's here." she simply told him, the Prince's eyes opening wide with shock, dropping the mop from his grasp; as he leaned back onto the wall of the dojo, she raised a brow at him, "Are you alright, Zuko?"

"T-the Avatar is here?" he questioned her with a tone of utter shock; of all the places he could have found the damned Avatar, it was where he was shipwrecked.

"Yeah- I know it's crazy- the guy disappeared for a hundred years and turns out he's still a kid!" she explained, the Prince's eyes growing further wide.

"Wh-what? He's still a child?" he asked her, Amari standing beside her shrugging.

"That is pretty weird, isn't it boss?" she noted to Suki, who turned back to face him.

"I think that explains the glowing statue eyes; the kid said something about the Avatar State." she explained, his face paling at the words he was hearing; the Avatar had just showed up to Kyoshi Island, like providence for his rather frustrating labours over the past few weeks.

"Zuko- are you okay? You look sick." she asked him once again, the boy shaking his head.

"Uh- no- yes, I've just got to get some fresh air." he told her, grabbing the mop and bucket and quickly pacing himself over to the cleaning cupboard, giving himself a moment alone before he had to walk outside and confront the situation.

"The Avatar's here." he mumbled under his breath as he put the cleaning instruments back in storage, turning around to face the Warriors once more, "I- uh- yeah, I'll be a second." he assured them, who looked to him with confusion; they didn't know what he did, and it was probably best they didn't.

"Uh- what about-" Suki begun to ask him, the Prince raising a finger, knowing the issue she would address.

"Wood collection- I know. I'll do it after my break, don't worry." he assured them before pacing out into the street.

Glancing up to his right, he saw the crowd following who he assumed to be the Avatar up to the village hall at the top of the street; Zuko knew he would have to analyse the situation thoroughly before he even tried to make a move. For one he had no ship, no crew, or uncle to help him handle the Avatar, let alone take him back to the Fire Nation; the Kyoshi Warriors would likely oppose his actions, so he would need to neutralise them. Not that he didn't think he could beat them when push came to shove, he just personally didn't want to fight people we would consider his friends; except Amari, of course- he would enjoy setting her hair on fire.

Suddenly beside him he heard a familiar voice, "Zuko- thank the spirits you're here; could you help prepare the feast we're throwing in celebration of the Avatar's return?" Oyaji asked him, the Prince's eyes widening; he most certainly did not want to feed the Avatar of all people, but he had to keep up an act of passivity if he wanted a chance to analyse the boy.

He nodded, "Of course, Oyaji." he assured him, before walking up beside him to the hall, where Zuko finally could make sight of the Avatar.

He was wearing the expected tunic of an Air Nomad, and seemed to be accompanied by two Water Tribe teenagers, a boy and a girl; he furrowed his brow at the sight of him, noting that Suki was not exaggerating- he could see that the Avatar couldn't be any older than twelve years old from the looks of him. They were led into the hall, to which he and Oyaji followed, the three of them sitting around a table that was currently empty of food; his gut wrenched at the thought of what he was doing- a part of him declared that because he hadn't attacked the child yet, he was a traitor to his country. The village leader directed him to the kitchen at the back of the house; as he walked by he caught eyes with the Avatar and his accomplices, who all looked at him with slight suspicion- they obviously could tell he was Fire Nation, his eyes a dead give away.

Entering the kitchen, he was greeted by Sekino, who smiled at him, "Zuko- here to help with the food, I see." she noted his appearance, the Prince nodding; she handed him a tray of cold food, mostly fish based, as that consituted the primary food source on an island like Kyoshi.

Taking the tray out into the dining room, he placed the various meals onto the table, the group still eyeing him off; as he finished placing the food down, the Avatar was the first to question him.

"Hey- are you from the Fire Nation?" he simply asked Zuko, who cringed immediately; he knew that anyone not on the side of the Fire Nation in the war would be against him.

"Y-yes." he admitted, the boy and girl narrowing their eyes at him.

"How'd you get that scar?" the boy asked him, making him roll his eyes.

"None of your business." he simply told him with grit teeth before walking back into the kitchen without another word; he didn't want to discuss his personal details with enemies of the Fire Nation, especially those helping the Avatar.

Returning to the kitchen, he joined Sekino in handling the cooking of the rice and fish into a stew. Stirring a pot, he smiled slightly at the nice aroma of the cooking; it reminded him of the cooking on his ship, which he oddly found nostalgic after hating it all the time he had been at sea. Grabbing a spoon he pulled out the stew and placed it into bowls, before she indicated for him to carry them on the tray into the room. Grabbing the tray, he took it into the dining room once more, catching the attention of the group once more, although they continued to talk amongst themselves; handing out each of the meals, he wasn't able to hold back his distaste toward the Avatar, the boy looking at him with confusion.

"Is something wrong?" he asked him, who simply huffed, before returning to the kitchen.

Glancing at Sekino, who saw his rather aggravated face, she looked back at him sympathetically, "Zuko? Do you need to have a break? I can handle the rest of the cooking." she assured him, the Prince nodding with a curt smile.

"Thanks, Sekino." he acknowledged before turning around walking out of the back door of the kitchen, leading him out of the large village hall.  
He sighed as he stood at the back of the village, now alone, he leaned up against the back of the hall and placed a hand on his left cheek, touching his scar lightly.

"What am I going to do now?"

* * *

"What was with that guy?"

Katara rolled her eyes at her brother's comment; he was being a little insensitive toward the boy that was serving them.

Turning to her brother she glared at him, "He's probably a little shy, and I don't think asking about the big red mark on his face is going to help." she chided her brother, before Aang piped up.

"I'm sure he's fine, he's probably just a little uncomfortable with the Avatar being around." he assured them, piping himself up a little too much for her taste.

"It can't be all about you; I mean he's Fire Nation, but that doesn't mean that he's going to have a problem with you." she argued, her brother looking at her with suspicion.

"Katara, you can't take sides with an ash-maker." he advised her, the young airbender beside them turning around to face Oyaji, who was sitting on the table beside them.

"Do you know what's going on with that guy- the scar-guy." he clarified, the village leader sighing.

"That's Zuko- he's been here for a bit more than a month now; he was shipwrecked, a wonder the Unagi didn't eat him." he explained, Katara furrowing a brow; so he was the 'Zuko' that was mentioned earlier, the one that the head warrior had recounted in her questioning about the Avatar State.

"Do you know how he got that big old scar on his eye?" Sokka asked once more, the village head sighing.

"I don't think he's told anyone- whatever happened, it must have been traumatising." he told them, the three of them falling silent in thought; she knew her brother was being intrusive, but it seems he might have offended the boy more than he might have expected to.

"I should go apologise- on your behalf." she indicated to her brother, who shrugged his shoulders.

"Whatever, I'm sure you'll get along just fine." he mockingly remarked, making her roll her eyes.

"Do you want to be reminded how you got beaten by girls?" she questioned him, her brother's face turning to a pout while Aang chuckled in remembering Sokka's overreaction.

She walked into the kitchen and saw a woman standing there, but no Zuko; she indicated to her with a wave, "Hey, I wanted to apologise to Zuko- do you know where he went?"

The woman directed her to the back door, "He went out for a break- I think he's not feeling too well." she commented, the Water Tribe girl nodding with understanding before opening the door.

Glancing to the wall of the building, she saw him standing there, leaning against in casually; scanning his figure once more, she couldn't help but notice how unusual he looked- blue clothes like any other villager, but golden eyes and a shaved head.

He noticed her idle glances, and looked at her with slight contempt, "What are you looking at?"

"Uh- nothing. I just came out here to apologise, my brother was asking things he shouldn't have." she explained herself, the boy before her shrugging before glancing back out behind the building toward the forest that lined the edge of the village.

"Why are you talking to me- I'm Fire Nation, remember?" he asked her with a tone of suspicion equal to her brother's toward him.

"You seem a little shaken, I'm sorry if our arrival here has been troubling." she tried to make an apology, not wanting him to feel any worse than he already seemed to be.

"You can't help with that." he bluntly told her, narrowing his unscarred eye, "Is he really the Avatar?" he asked her for clarification, to which she looked back with confusion.

"Um- yes." she mumbled, "Aang is a good kid, but he has a lot to learn if he wants to try and do his Avatar duties." she told Zuko, who looked almost amused by her words.

"Hmph- Avatar duties- I suppose those involve bringing the Fire Nation to justice." he assumed, the Water Tribe girl narrowing her eyes at him; from how he spoke, it was if he knew what Aang was going to do without the young Avatar even having decided it himself.

"Do you think the Fire Nation is bad?" she asked him, the boy paling at her with a cringed face.

"I- uh- some people- definitely some people in the Fire Nation are bad." he told her, as if he knew personally of those who were doing the warmongering in the Fire Nation; she stepped closer to him, wanting to know more.  
Katara had never understood the Fire Nation, or anyone from it, and this boy gave her an opportunity to glimpse at the Nation she held nothing but contempt for.

"Like the person who gave you that scar?" she asked him, the boy's eyes opening wide.

"Wh-what!" he nearly screamed, "You don't know what you're talking about!" he accused her before storming off in anger.

"Wait- I'm sorry!" she told him, feeling guilty to have assumed as she had just done; as he continued to pace away, she couldn't help but sigh in disappointment, feeling sympathy for a boy who seemed like he had lost everything.

"Who did that to him?"

* * *

Heaving the last of the firewood into a pile outside of the village hall, Zuko wiped the sweat from his forehead; he had had enough of chores and enough of being around the boy he had been searching around for three years. The idea infuriated him, the fact he couldn't take him home in chains to his father, because he had lost his ship, his crew and probably was thought dead to the Fire Nation as a whole. He hammered his hand into the wall of the hall, luckily not catching the attention of anyone inside; the banished Prince wanted to scream and bellow fire into the air, but he knew that was the worse thing he could do. On an island full of people that hate firebenders and the Avatar himself, if he even tried to firebend he would be Unagi lunch quicker than his uncle could down a bowl of roast duck. Pacing his way down the street, he didn't walk back to the Kyoshi Warrior's dojo as he usually would to clean up, but rather continued on, glancing up above himself to see a villager working on repainting the statue of Avatar Kyoshi; he was reminded by the Avatar everywhere he looked, making his scowl deepen.

"I will redeem my honour." he swore to himself while glancing at the towering effigy of a past Avatar, before walking away from the village, a part of him screaming at him for not turning up hill to go fight the Avatar.

He paced downhill from the small village toward the bay, the orange of the late evening sun making the water look almost like it was on fire; the sight was of no concern to him, as his mind could only remain focused on one thing, and one thing only. He had no plan, and he simply continued to stride on down to the beach, glancing around momentarily to check for other people before he took a deep breath; he needed to release his anger, and he only knew one way how. He relented breathing flames out onto the beach, and instead turned around and grabbed some twigs, piling them on the beach; if he couldn't be seen firebending, then at the very least he ought to make a reasonable excuse for it. Sitting in front of the pile, he simply raised a hand over the twigs, small embers appearing, before the flames caught sync with his breathing, becoming larger with every breath. He sighed with relief, breathing in and out with the flames; he wasn't overly good at meditation, but he knew it was helpful to calm down, and the fire gave him a physical outlet for his mental struggles.

Trying to recollect his thoughts, he directed his mind toward what he truly desired; Prince Zuko wanted to return home with the Avatar, and with that, redeem his honour and be reinstated to his position as Crown Prince. His eyes opened in realisation- he had to capture the Avatar, not anyone else; if someone else from the Fire Nation saw it in their interest to capture the last airbender, then he would be deprived of his only route home. From his thought he could only make a single conclusion, one that made his gut wrench as he considered the implications; he would either capture the Avatar, or prevent anyone else from doing so until he could. He knew that in the right context, that would be nothing less that betraying the Fire Nation and his father, forfeiting any chance he would have of redemption; he remembered how he had in the past used his Blue Spirit theatre mask to disguise his identity, and he knew that he would most likely have to do something similar if he wanted a chance to prevent the Avatar falling into the wrong hands. He didn't want to have to choose between his loyalty to his nation and his desire to fulfil his banishment's terms, but it seemed that eventually he would have to. In the meantime, he understood his role as to make sure he knew where the Avatar was as to ensure when the time was right he could capture the boy and take him to his father; while on Kyoshi, he obviously could not, so he knew he would have to leave, and soon at that.

His train of thought and meditation was broken by a single word being uttered behind him, "Hey." he glanced back to see Suki standing behind him, currently dressed in her 'normal' clothes, without her make-up, the same blue clothes as all the other villagers wore.

"S-Suki..." he mumbled, before shaking his head to consider the situation, "I'm just meditating." he explained himself, although he did realise perhaps the fire might seem a little weird.

"Oh, I thought you were making yourself dinner." she told him, to which he sighed; he was actually feeling hungry, but he didn't want to return to the village just yet, not with the problems he had on his mind, "I heard you shouting around earlier." she admitted, making him cringe in thought of his outburst of anger.

He had reacted to the Water Tribe girl's intrusive comments with as much anger as he thought was reasoned; she didn't understand what happened, and neither did Suki, but at least the warrior had the courtesy to leave those issues alone.

"I'm sorry for that." he apologised, "I'm just... trying to figure out what to do." he told her, not trying to detail the actual issue; if there was one thing he didn't want to do, it would be to involve her and Kyoshi Island with his quest for the Avatar.

She sat down beside him, placing her hands over his small fire to warm them up, "Do you want to leave?" she simply asked him, the Prince sighing with frustration.

"I was here by mistake, and I have to find a way to complete my task." he explained to her, to which she smiled back at him sympathetically.

"The impossible task." she simply acknowledged, "Your entire life doesn't need to be defined by a single goal." she thought aloud, glancing out onto the water, taking sight of the sunset.

He chuckled under his breath, "Huh, that's the kind of thing my uncle would say." he admitted, making her smile back at him.

"You miss him, don't you?" she asked, Zuko nodding back at her.

"I don't know what happened to him- I want to..." he begun to explain, before looking to her with more determination, "I need to find him."

"Hmph- I'm sure Oyaji will accept your debt repaid soon enough, and then you can be on your way." she assured him, who gave her a small smile in return.

"Y-yeah." he agreed, glancing out onto the water, "I've learned a lot here." he admitted to her, the warrior raising a brow at him.

"I mean I do take pride in my training." she smirked back at him proudly.

"Not just that- I thought that being stuck on that ship was the lowest low I could find, but the world just loves to show me that it can get worse." he admitted, her eyes narrowing at him.

"It's not that bad here, is it?" she asked him.

"Eh- the food's not bad, and the people are nice, I guess." he admitted, making her smile at him before raising his single eyebrow, "And I avoided getting eaten by the Unagi." he noted, making her laugh at him.

"We wouldn't dare- you're an honorary Kyoshi Warrior now." she smirked at him, reminding him of the embarrassment he had endured in wearing their make-up and their armour.

"I am not wearing that make-up again." he assured her, to which she chuckled under her breath.

"Yes- I'm sure you'll be fine fighting with sticks." she admitted to him, who puffed his chest up with a smirk.

"As a matter of fact, I will be." he confirmed, although he then cringed in thought of himself fighting the Avatar with only sticks.

"Seriously though- you probably ought to get an actual weapon." she noted, the Prince sighing.

"I had a pair of dao, but they were lost when I was shipwrecked; I'm not taking one of your katanas- I shouldn't." he told her, knowing he had no right to take one of their blades- if he needed to, he would go and buy himself one.

"You can take one- you deserve some reward from your training other than losing your ponytail and learning how to apply make-up." she jested, making him blush in thought of the intricacies of the Warrior's make-up that he had learned; Zuko nodded but winced in noticing the feeling of hunger that he had been trying to ignore for quite a while.

"Huh- I guess we should be getting back to the village." he admitted, feeling his stomach grumble- he hadn't eaten much, and the stress he was feeling with the Avatar's arrival didn't help.

"It is dinner time." she acknowledged, before she raised a brow at him, "How about you test your tea-making skills again- perhaps find yourself serving the Avatar?" she jested him, to which he rolled his eyes.

"I'm still horrible- please, get someone else to make the tea." he advised, but shrugged at her with a curt smile, "But tea does sound like a good idea." he told her, thinking of his uncle's love and veneration of the drink, which brought a sense of hope to his eyes.

"You really like tea, don't you?" she asked him with a smile, making his face pale as he realised the influence his uncle had made on him; turning to face the sky he mumbled under his breath, as if he was talking to the man himself.

"Urgh- I'm turning into you.


	7. Consequences

_"My niece, I wouldn't expect to see you here."_

_Princess Azula rolled her eyes at her uncle's comments; she didn't like him in any way- he represented everything that she didn't want to become, and for that very reason she had come to see him. She wouldn't admit it, but she did appreciate the aroma of the tea that the retired general was brewing, and following courtesy, sat down beside him._

_"May I have a cup?" she asked him, Iroh furrowing a brow at her momentarily before pouring her a cup._

_"Jasmine tea, I'm sure you'll like it." he smiled at her as he handed her the teacup._

_She accepted it and took a sip from the cup, feeling the warm liquid course down into her gut; she wouldn't dare say she enjoyed the tea, although in drinking it, she understood why he spent every waking hour drinking it._

_"Azula, I'm slightly confused as to why you've come to see me- have you suddenly taken a liking to tea?" he questioned her, to which she shook her head._

_"No Uncle, I simply want to talk to you about a common interest we have." she admitted, to which he chuckled._

_"And what would that be?" he asked her, in a tone that sounded friendly, but she could only take it as a condescending remark; she would never trust a word from that man's mouth._

_"I want to make sure Zuko is a good Prince of the Fire Nation, and I assume you do as well." she simply told him, his eyes widening._

_"I do." he curtly responded, before she shook her head._

_"Well Uncle, you're doing quite a poor job at it." she advised him, her glare narrowing at him, "He has so much potential, why would you have him waste it becoming as weak as certain detractors would like to believe?" she questioned him, her little comment referring to Zhao, although she knew he wouldn't know that; Zuko's rivalry was a thing that kept between the siblings, and she knew that her uncle wouldn't approve._

_"Weak?" he scoffed, "My niece, Zuko is not weak. He is a good Prince of our nation, and I hope that one day he will be a great Fire Lord." he told her, to which she smirked._

_"Uncle- you can't really believe that Zuko will ever be Fire Lord with the path you're setting him down?" she asked him with a tone of disbelief; her uncle was no moron, he ought to know exactly what he was doing._

_"What path would that be?" he chuckled at her rather vague comment._

_"The path of tea and treachery." she told him with a glare, although in hindsight she realised how stupid sounding her description was._

_"Well there will certainly be tea, but there is no treachery when acting in the interests of your nation." he told her, the vagueness of his wording making her grit her teeth._

_"Did you miss my question?" she mocked him, "Zuko will never be accepted as the true heir of our nation by our father." she openly told him her thoughts, to which her uncle's brow raised._

_"Hmph- and where did you get that idea, niece?" he asked her while offering her more tea._

_"Places." she muttered, not willing to reveal her sources and methods; she was observant, and being observant got her more understanding about her father got her than any talking he had ever done to her, "Why did you let him become Fire Lord?" she furthered her questioning, knowing that perhaps if she got her uncle into a corner, he might say something that would give her an idea of his plans for Zuko._

_He sighed before glancing at her, "Because I was tired... I had to reconsider my destiny." he told her, whose brow furrowed at the mentioning of 'destiny'._

_"Your destiny?" she asked him with a tone of disbelief, making the retired general chuckle._

_"I always thought I was to conquer Ba Sing Se, and going there, I lost my only son, and my willingness to fight." he admitted, the sadness in his eyes noticeable, to which she relented to feel sympathy._

_"And now what, you want to replace cousin with Zuko?" she openly asked him, to which his eyes paled in shock; her words were meant to be hurtful, and he was left speechless._

_"Wh-what?" he mumbled, "No, Zuko isn't replacing Lu Ten- he never could." he told her with a tone that she could only take as honesty._

_"So then what- what do you want with my brother?" she asked him, his eyes narrowing at her._

_"Your brother lacks a mother, and his father has no care for him- I want to be a parent to him, because otherwise, he would have no one else." he admitted to her, to which she looked on in offense._

_"He has me; despite what you might think, I don't hate my brother." she told him with a tone of spite; she knew her uncle's meddling would only enforce her and her brother's rivalry._

_"That is good." he admitted to her, "You shouldn't hate each other- you should care for each other." Azula rolling her eyes at his comments._

_"Then why are you getting in my way?" she asked him, her tone growing louder and more angry, "I want to help Zuko- to make him better- he doesn't deserve to end up like you." she grit her teeth, pointing at him accusingly._

_"I agree." he simply replied, her eyes widening._

_"But you want to make him weak." she rebuked him, "You want to ruin father's only son, probably just to spite him for taking the throne." she argued, her uncle shaking his head._

_"I will do no such thing- I simply want to guide him, to help him find his own way." he argued for himself, far more calm and collected than she was; for him to continue to remain calm frustrated her further- she needed a reaction- there had to be a face behind the mask._

_"Lies." she muttered, "All lies."_

_"What do you want me to say?" he asked her in response, making her turn away with a scowl._

_"I don't want to hear your lies; the truth- that is all I want." she gritted her teeth._

_"The truth?" Iroh asked her with serious eyes, "There is a truth, but you would rather not hear it." he advised her, the girl standing up and facing him once more._

_"You are wrong." she glared him down, the retired general sighing._

_"I don't want to argue about things that there is no use arguing about." he told her honestly, drinking from his teacup, making her clench her fists._

_"I will make Zuko better- you better not get in my way." she warned him, her uncle's face turning to one of dismissal._

_"My nephew is his own man- he will make his own decisions, and he will bear the consequences."_

_"No, you are wrong." she chided him with cold eyes, "You will bear the consequences."_

* * *

Zuko paced down through the village, a scowl on his face, which had become the norm, much to his frustration. He had had to serve the damned Avatar again, and he knew there were two effective ways to get rid of his anger; fighting and bending, and he couldn't bend on an island full of people that hated firebenders. As he approached the Kyoshi Warrior's dojo, he could hear what sounded like a cry of pain, and not one of theirs; it was a masculine yelp of pain, and upon catching sight of the open doors of the dojo, he could see its origin- the annoying Water Tribe teenager.

"Let's see if you can handle this!" he shouted, looking like he was trying to kick one of the warriors, which he made out to be Suki as she saw her confident smirk.

She quickly dodged his kick and pushed him off balance, making him fall to the ground, after which she opened her fan and waved at her face casually. Zuko chuckled at the sight, and the Water Tribesman seemed to had enough of trying to fight her, his tone growing angry.

"That does it!" he shouted once more, charging at her in frustration.

She moved out of the charging warrior's way, grabbing his arm with her right hand and pushing at his shoulder with her left, spinning him around; she spinned him the other way before stopping, grabbing his belt as he lost balance, toppling forward. Using his belt she tied his left hand to his right foot, and although he tried to keep himself balance, it was fruitless as he lost his footing and fell face first onto the ground.

Suki mocked him with a smirk, "Anything else you want to teach us?" she questioned him, the Warriors all joining in laughing at the hilarious sight; the Prince stepped forward toward the dojo, Suki noting his arrival, "Here to see my handiwork?"

He chuckled and glanced down at the boy, "Not exactly." to which the Water Tribesman cringed.

"Please- stop looking." he pleaded, making him chuckle under his breath.

"So why'd you beat him up anyway?" he asked curiously, the head warrior shrugging with a smug grin.

"Overconfidence in his abilities." she told him flatly, the boy on the ground sighing with a grimace.

"Well," Zuko begun, kneeling down beside him, "how about you fight someone a little less skilled at fighting than a Kyoshi Warrior?" he asked, offering himself up for a little spar; if anything he could take his anger out on the Avatar's friend, something that made him want to cackle in imitation of his sister.

"Y-you?" he asked him, "Aren't you an ash-maker?" he asked him, the Prince rolling his eyes.

"I fight with swords." he corrected him, although it wasn't a completely truthful statement.

"And he's not less skilled than a Kyoshi Warrior- that's an outright lie." Suki corrected him, before Amari stepped forward.

"Hey, we do beat him most times!" she argued in the warriors favour, Zuko finding himself in the awkward situation where Amari was the one on his side of the argument.

"So, what do you say?" he asked the boy, who rolled his eyes.

"Uh- yeah, if you could untie me?" he requested, the Prince smirking as he untied the boy's belt from his hand and foot, allowing him to return to his feet, looking still embarrassed from the beating he received.

He raised his fists defensively, making Zuko chuckle, "Okay, do you want a weapon?" he asked him, making Suki chuckle under her breath.

"Maybe a stick." she suggested, the Water Tribe boy giving her a look of contempt.

"A stick?" he asked with a confused look, making the Kyoshi Warrior's chuckle under their breath, not making a proper response, "Seriously? Why a stick?"

"Perhaps a demonstration would help." Suki admitted, indicating to Nakata with a glance; the warrior picked up two short sticks from the side of the dojo and handed one each to the two boys, returning to her fellow warriors with a snicker.

"Dance." Suki mockingly addressed the two of them, making the boy look to her with contempt, all while the Prince rolled his eyes at her rather demeaning joke.

The Water Tribe boy moved into form, while Zuko did the same, ready to fight someone he knew had no chance against him; it wasn't the Prince being overconfident, it was just an observation he had made from observing him spar Suki. The Water Tribesman threw himself forward, lunging at him with the stick as if it was a club; dodging the piece of wood with ease, he struck the boy in the gut, making him wince before Zuko swung the baton from behind his legs, flinging him off his feet onto the ground.

"Ahhh!" he screamed out in shock as he fell onto his back, the Prince standing over him with a smirk, offering out a hand, which he hit away, "I'm not giving up yet." he assured him, Zuko appreciating his foolhardiness; the more he got to beat up the Avatar's friend, the better he might feel about not trying to capture the last airbender while he was in his grasp.

Returning to his feet, the boy adeptly swung the stick around in his hand, indicating to his opponent that he a little more adept at throwing; instinctively, the Prince dodged out of the way when he threw the weapon at his head, the precision shocking him as he barely missed getting knocked in the jaw with the stick. Having thrown his weapon away, the Water Tribe warrior couldn't do much but try and block Zuko's rapid swings, eventually one swinging up and whacking his chin in an uppercut, forcing him to fall back off his feet once more.

"Again?" he asked him with a smirk, the Water Tribesman's eyes lighting up with anger as he grabbed the stick that the Prince kicked to his feet.

He raced at the Prince with a battle-cry, finding his lunging swing blocked by his opponent's stick, which he skillfully turned around to whack him in the face with; undeterred the warrior continued to rapidly swing his stick at Zuko, missing him every time as he sidestepped or blocked his attacks, all too predictable in the adept swordsman's eyes. Finally the boy swung his stick around to the other hand, before whacking him in the side of his ribs, who winced in pain before jamming his opponent in the forehead with his stick, forcing him to the ground again.

"Ow..." the Prince rubbed his side, cringing from the blunt injury; the Kyoshi Warriors looked at both of them with laughter, Zuko knowing that they had set them up to fight purely for their own amusement, "How about you just teach the kid so he stops trying to kill me with a stick?" he requested, Suki duly nodding.

"How about it boomerang-boy? Do you want to learn the ways of the Kyoshi Warriors?" she asked of him, towering over the boy with a smirk.

"It's Sokka... and yeah- I would be honoured if you would teach me." he admitted, making Zuko smirk at the boy; he had learned his lesson, it seemed.

"Hmph- even if I'm a girl?" she questioned him, the boy looking away from her, looking ashamed.

"I'm sorry if I insulted you earlier. I was... wrong." he admitted, making her look on at his respectful attitude.

"Once you're able to beat both me and Zuko, I'm sure you'll prove a worthy companion of the Avatar." she offered him, the boy raising a brow at her.

"What? I'm already helping Aang." he told her, making her smugly look down at him.

"I mean, did you defend him from being captured by 'a bunch of girls'?" she mocked him, Sokka sighing in defeat.

"No- I didn't." he admitted.

"Good that's the first step into becoming a better warrior: understanding your limits." she acknowledged, the boy looking up at her with a smile.

"Limits, huh." Zuko mumbled under his breath, thinking about how he had constantly tried to get better and ignored his limits to first impress his father and then to become powerful enough to capture the Avatar.

"So, what do you say Zuko? Want to help train this boy into a warrior?" she asked, making him raise a finger in objection.

He didn't want to train the allies of the Avatar to begin with, but he knew that training with someone knew ought to broaden in horizons in fighting capabilities; he might be better than the Warriors in some regards, but not in all, and he knew he needed to improve if he wanted to be able to capture the Avatar one day.

The Prince came up with a more reasonable excuse to her question, "As long as I don't have to wear make-up."

Sokka's eyes widened, "Wait, I have to wear make-up?" he asked Zuko, who shrugged his shoulders back at him with a sense of slight sympathy.

"It's Kyoshi Island, buddy."

* * *

The greatest lesson Azula's father had ever told her was that fear was power, and she had found that it was very effective in achieving her goals. At that very moment, it involved her kicking down the door of a rundown Earth Kingdom tavern with a fire powered kick; she didn't need to do it, but the look on the faces of the patrons proved that it was useful. Stepping forward into the establishment, she was flanked by two of her Royal Guards, and smirked as she saw the men before her shiver, even the off-duty Fire Nation guards looked chilled to the bone.

"Has anyone here seen a fat, old Fire Nation man around in the past week?" she asked them, the tavern remaining silent before one of the Fire Nation guards present rose to his feet.

"Uh- an old guy?" he asked for clarification, to which she nodded, "I saw someone come in last week- he was all burnt up, and now that I think of it, it was a little suspicious." the guard admitted, making her smirk.

"Would you happen to know what he was doing here?" she asked, to which he shrugged.

"He was asking about clothes- I think." he admitted, seeming unsure of his words.

"To who?" she furthered her question, to which he glanced to the bartender, to looked fearfully.

"Oh shit." he mumbled under his breath, before a fireball was lopped at his head, the man narrowly missing it before he made a break to run.

Following after the man, she vaulted over the bar and followed him out to the back of the tavern, chasing him out the back door; as he tried to continue running from her, she decided to make a rather direct threat. Spinning her hands around, the Crown Princess directed a lightning strike into the air, the light blinding and it's thunder deafening; the man fell to his feet, panting in fear, his eyes open wide.

"Please! Don't kill me!" he pleaded, Azula quickly approaching him with hands lit by flames.

"I'm not going to kill you- you're going to tell me exactly what you talked about with that old man- exactly." she clarified, creating a dagger of flames with one of her hands, the bartender gulping with fear before nodding.

"H-he wanted clothes and- ah- he paid me for them." he explained with a stammer, the Princess twitching her head to the side.

"And?" she asked of him, the bartender sweating profusely with the dagger of flames by his neck.

"He made me some tea, and we- uh- talked about life- h-he was really nice." he furthered, the Princess chuckling at she threw the man down to the ground out of her grasp, her guards surrounding the man, leaving him prone with nowhere to go.

"Now let me ask you one last thing- where was he going?" she furthered, the man paling.

"I- I don't know." he simply told her, his face paling, "M-maybe to get away from you." he considered, Azula chuckling at him.

"You're not wrong." she admitted, "But an Earth Kingdom disguise will not save my uncle from justice." she told him, his eyes widening.

"Uncle?" he muttered under his breath, "H-he was talking about his nephew- he wanted to find his nephew." he confirmed to her, to which she smirked back at him.

"Thank you." she told him before kicking him in the head with a fire-powered strike, flinging him to the ground and knocking him out.

"If we find my brother first, then perhaps we can draw out the old dragon." she thought aloud, before turning to her guards, "Take this fool and send him to some prison- he's committed a crime against the Fire Nation by harbouring a fugitive." she told them, the guards grabbing the man by the arms to drag his unconscious body away.

"I will find you, Uncle." she mumbled under her breath, thinking that once she finally caught up to the old man, he and she might have a little chat- one about actions and their consequences.

* * *

Sokka took each move with care, executing them just as Suki had taught him; after making each motion he made a shout as he closed the fan in his hand and threw it out of the dojo, striking a tree quite accurately; he smirked at his move, knowing that if there was one thing he was good at, it was throwing things- he'd had a lot of practice. Suki glanced out to note how he had struck the tree before turning back to address him.

"It's not about strength. Our technique is about using your opponents' force against them." she explained, pulling her own fan out and unfurling it, pointing it toward him, "Think of the fan as an extension of your arm. Wait for an opening and then-" she told him before charging right toward him to attack, the Water Tribe warrior swiftly dodging her and using her speed against her by striking her right on her behind, pushing her to the ground.

In the background Sokka could hear a muffled laugh, noting Zuko looking on quite amused at the sight of the head warrior on the ground; he crossed his arms at her and looked on smugly, though she quickly got to her feet, glaring back at him.

"I fell on purpose to make you feel better!" she claimed, the warrior unable to hold in his glee, pointing at her with a high tone.

"I got you! Admit I got you!" he told her, the head warrior grabbing his finger and twisting it, making him grunt in pain.

"Okay it was a lucky shot." she admitted, releasing his finger, before glancing over to Zuko, "But you haven't beat him." she admitted, the Water Tribesman sighing with frustration.

"He doesn't fight like you- he's got all these crazy moves I can't even imagine pulling off." he acknowledged, the Fire Nation boy smugly looking on at his indirect compliments.

"It's the art of the sword." he bragged, making Sokka scoff at him, "But I should probably fight you like a Kyoshi Warrior would, that's only fair." he admitted, indicating to Suki, who skillfully threw him a fan, which he quickly drew out and took form with, surprising the novice warrior.

"How long has he been learning this?" he asked Suki, who smugly shrugged.

"Ah, a few weeks." she noted, raising her hand to indicate to Zuko, "Come on, show him what you've learned." she indicated to the scarred boy, who stood awaiting him patiently.

He stepped forward to strike at his opponent with a fan, keeping his footing steady as the other boy struck back at his fan, countering his attack; Sokka gritted his teeth as he blocked the other boys strikes, but was unable to find an opening. He then took his turn on the offensive, striking with a swing to hit his shoulder from below; in a quick response, his opponent struck his hand with his fan, nearly disarming the Water Tribe warrior, who stumbled back before regaining his footing. He struck his fan out as Zuko came to strike him, who dodged his own fan but was unable to land a hit, allowing Sokka to push his fan to the back of his legs, nearly tripping him over. The Water Tribe warrior smirked at the near win, and returned to form facing toward his opponent, the two of them having switched positions; he charged forward to fawn an attack at Zuko's upper body, only to aim for his legs to trip him. His opponent sidestepped his attack before striking him in the back with his fan, knocking the Water Tribesman to the ground and flinging his fan out of his hand; he sighed in defeat and turned to his opponent with a respectful nod.

"Not bad." Suki admitted, seemingly impressed with the progress that he had already made.

"Really?" he asked her with a sense of confidence.

"Yeah, you're not completely pitiful anymore." Zuko admitted, making him roll his eyes.

"I nearly beat you." he argued, the other boy shrugging at him.

"After Suki gave you the skills you needed." he conceded, making the head warrior smirk.

"That's right- if the non-benders the Fire Nation have to offer up are less competent than Zuko, you'll have no problem fighting them." she offered him, the Fire Nation boy side-eyeing her with slight offence, "You do need to work on your defence, but you know how to use that fan well enough." she admitted, before indicating to Zuko, who handed her the fan he was using, "Now, where were we before?" she asked him, who smirked back at her.

"I was going to kick your butt." he jested, making her roll her eyes.

"Don't get too cocky now." she chided him, both of them taking form with their fans.

"Of course not. You are the master after all." he admitted to her, both of his trainers nodding in approval of his attitude.

As their fans struck once more, he smirked with a new found sense of confidence; he mightn't have been the warrior he believed he was, but maybe he could become the warrior he always wanted to be.

* * *

Suki lunged forward to strike her opponent with her fan, who blocked it with his own fan; Sokka smiled confidently back at her before sending a counter toward her, the warrior dodging his move with a side-step, both of their fans clashing again. She was thoroughly impressed with the Water Tribe boy's progress over the span of a single day, and now she could even admit he had a chance of properly defeating her; Zuko had eagerly got into helping her train him, working as a sparring partner and giving the boy some moves. He stood behind watching them quickly exchange moves, before Suki found herself disarmed by her opponent, forcing her to concede his skill.

"You're getting better." she acknowledged, the Water tribe warrior smiling back at her confidently.

Suddenly they were interrupted by Oyaji, who appeared at the doors of the dojo, "Firebenders have landed on our shores!" he called out, Suki instinctively turning back to face Zuko; perhaps he was not returning home, but his home was returning to him.

"What? Firebenders?!" Zuko exclaimed in confusion, before his eyes narrowed,

"The Avatar."

"Girls come quickly!" Oyaji called out once more, Suki immediately picking herself up and following the village head out onto the street, quickly accompanied by her fellow warriors, as well as Sokka and Zuko.

Suki turned to her fellow warriors, "We need to hide in preparation, a sneak attack is always the best tactic when dealing with a powerful foe." she explained, Sokka raising a brow at the mention of the words 'sneak attack', probably reminiscing back to when she and the warriors had originally captured him.

Amari stepped forward, her eyes narrowing at the Fire Nation boy amongst them, "So- you're going to fight for us, against your people?" she asked him, as to suggest he would betray them, Zuko stood tall and shook his head.

"Katanas." he asked them simply, Suki understanding his words; Sawa and Esumi stepped forward and handed him their blades, the boy drawing them out and swinging them, the Water Tribe boy looking on quite impressed.

"This is going to be cool." he admitted, making Zuko smirk back at him before they all rush off to climb onto the roofs on the buildings.

A few moments later, a group of Fire Nation soldiers came into view, all of them wearing quite ornamental and impressive armour, led by a man whose face was bared, unlike the rest of the group, which wore skull masks. The unmasked man stepped forward and called out into the village, whose streets were empty.

"We're looking for the Avatar. If you give him up, no harm will come to your village." the soldier told them, making her smirk in thought; the Kyoshi Warriors would never give up.

A few moments later, Amari and Nakata jumped from a roof each, throwing their fans at the soldiers, striking two in their helmets and knocking them down; next Sawa and Esumi jumped out from behind and begun to attack the firebenders, whose flames were dodged by the swift warriors. Lastly, she and Sokka, sitting on another roof, paced along before jumping down, with their fans bared, ready to fight the firebenders alongside the other warriors. The only exception was Zuko, who remained unseen for that moment; she ignored the thought of looking out for him and remained focused on the fight, racing toward the unmasked soldier, who yelped in fear of the fast approaching warriors, who had clearly taken the unit by surprise. She struck the man in the leg with a fan before hitting his jaw, knocking him to the ground, before deflecting two incoming fireballs with her fans, using the metal weapons to disperse the flames.

"Hyaah!" Sokka shouted out as he lept forward, using his retracted fans to quickly strike the soldiers, forcing them to back off from Suki.

She nodded in thanks to him before he drew out his fans and took a defensive position as the firebenders approached them, their numbers giving them a clear advantage; for one she hoped the Avatar would swoop down and save them, but she had no idea where he was at that very moment, and knew she had to rely on those she had by her side. The firebending soldiers surrounded the warriors, who took form in a huddle to cover each others flanks. She gritted her teeth thinking that Zuko was yet to arrive, and yet at that very moment he did; the Fire Nation boy jumped down from above them, quite literally stepping on top of the Fire Nation soldiers with a kick, before rolling to land. He smirked at his opponents as he drew out both of the katanas he had been given before his opponents approached him, the distraction giving the girls ample space to counter the remaining firebenders which surrounded them; she swung her fan out to block a fireball, before using the instrument to strike her opponent in the head, flinging him to the ground. Beside her the other warriors continued to hold off their enemies, beating them back and forcing the firebenders to take stances out of range of their fans; in synchronisation the firebenders funnelled beams of fire at the group, knocking a few of them off their feet.

Suki stood strong and leapt forward, kicking her opponent before deflecting an incoming strike with her fan; she could see Zuko on the other side of the soldiers, holding a number of them off with only his swords. Swinging her fans around, she blocked a fire-powered punch from one of the soldiers, before knocking another in the head with a fist; she realised she was away from the group and now surrounded by Fire Nation soldiers, who pummelled her with fireballs, catching some but not all of of them with her fans. Cringing from the burns that struck her armour, she gritted her teeth before kicking one of the soldiers in the groin, and jabbing him in the chest with one of her fans; another soldier sent a fireball at her, striking her right arm and flinging a fan out of her hand. She turned to block another fire blast but was forced to back down as she felt the power of multiple strikes at once; cringing in pain, she tried to step back, but the attackers continued their unrelenting fury. Suddenly as one of the firebenders came to strike her, his hand was clasped by another- Zuko's, who held off the firebending attack almost unnaturally, before slamming the man in the head; he stood in front of her as a number of the soldiers came to attack him, the boy holding off their fire blasts. The realisation then dawned on her; no ordinary person could just hold off fireballs without being burnt- he was a firebender. The boy kicked the soldiers out of the way before retrieving his blades from the ground, turning to face her, noting her face of shock; she knew his secret, and his wide eyes showed her that he could tell.

"S-Suki..." he muttered, only for her to whack her fan to strike the firebender who was about to hit him; Zuko looked at her with a tinge of fear before turning to face their opponents once more.

He swung his blades at the soldiers, beating a few of them down, but she knew that their fight wasn't in their favour; there was just too many of them. Suddenly a gust of wind blew through the village, nearly forcing them off their feet; she turned to see Aang, standing with his staff in hand, ready to defend the village. Within a few moments, all of the remaining soldiers had found themselves knocked to the ground unconscious as the airbender swiftly hit each of them as they raced to attack him; the boy looked to them with fear, the Water Tribe girl by his side, equally worried by the sight of village, covered with embers and injured Kyoshi Warriors.

"They hurt you?" he asked, Suki cringing in pain.

"A little." she admitted, Sokka racing forward to see his friends' arrival.

"Aang, you're here- how many are there?" he asked, the Avatar cringing in fear.

"A lot- a big ship full of Fire Nation soldiers, looking for me." he explained, the regret in eyes noted by the head warrior; he had, albeit indirectly, led to the Fire Nation attacking their village in an attempt to capture him.

She turned to Zuko, who was panting in exhaustion after their fight, and he cringed fearfully, knowing what she would ask him, "I think you have something to tell us, Zuko." she prompted him, the Fire Nation boy sighing, and behind him she could here Amari cheering.

"I was right, wasn't I?" she exclaimed, making the head warrior roll her eyes before looking more concernedly at Zuko.

"I have a confession to make." he opened up, dropping his swords to the ground, "I'm a firebender." he admitted, the Avatar and his friends looking on in shock, "I didn't want to tell you guys because I thought you would throw me to the Unagi." he directed to the Kyoshi Warriors, who looked on with considerable understanding; he wasn't wrong to make that assumption of them.

"You're a firebender?" Sokka looked at him wide eyed, "I'm not surprised- I can see it in your eyes." he narrowed a glare at him.

"I don't want to fight you; I want to defend Kyoshi Island." he argued, pointing in the distance to where the ship was.

Suki stepped forward, "Well then- how good are you?" she asked him, genuinely intrigued; the boy smirked curtly at her and looked toward the ship.

"I think I'll need a more practical demonstration."


	8. Scars

_"Remember your firebending basics, Prince Zuko. They are your greatest weapon."_

_Zuko remained in form in preparation for his Agni Kai with Zhao, the man who had the audacity to call him a coward; he was finally ready to defeat the man, even if it wouldn't return his title as Prince, he knew whatever honour he could find outside of his father's quest, it would be from destroying Commander Zhao. He remembered back to when he sparred numerous times with Azula, as she reiterated the same message into his head, the same one his uncle had gifted him._

_"I will never give up without a fight." he muttered, his uncle's pupils dilating as he was reminded exactly where those words came from; the retired general nodded at him, affirming his mindset._

_Standing up and turning around to face his opponent, he dropped the cape that he wore around his shoulders, Zhao making the same motions; the Prince could see his opponent mutter something, but he was sure it was simply his usually hubris, the thing that would finally spell defeat for the Commander. In the distance, the gong was rung, and with it, both he and his opponent took firebending stances, now readied to fight each other. To begin, he lowered his arms, before directing his power into a fire blast at Zhao, moving out of the way to dodge his strike, making the Prince narrow his eyes before throwing another fireball, which he dodged with as much ease. He realised that Zhao was going to miss his attacks while he remained at a distance, and decided to continue pacing closer to his opponent, who acknowledges his motions and imitates, drawing closer and throwing a large fire blast at the Prince; he dissipated the attack, gritting his teeth before returning to take a defensive stance._

_Iroh called out from the side-lines, "Basics, Zuko! Break his root!" increasing the young Prince's confidence as he was forced to withstand a barrage from his opponent._

_One attack followed from another, Zuko deflected away his opponent's blasts before he begun to volley fireballs at Zhao, who was forced to step around to avoid getting his extremities singed. The Commander gritted his teeth with anger at him, throwing an even stronger fire blast at him, which he dispersed with a circular motion with his hands; the Prince suddenly felt a tingle down his spine, and saw what looked to be small sparks of light in his hands, not originating from Zhao's flames. Ignoring the unusual sight, he returned his opponents attack with volley of fire blasts before kicking at the Commander, who dispersed his attack before returning on the offensive; Zuko panted in his breathing, realising that he was using too much energy, and deflecting each of Zhao's blasts he realised this would be his downfall. As his opponent pushed forward to send another fire blast at him, the Prince ducked down and made a smaller fire blast that flew under his arm, singing his side; the Commander grumbled from the pain, throwing another powerful fire blast at Zuko, who could barely disperse the pure strength of the attack, his arms feeling as if they were burnt by the heat of redirecting his opponents bending. He dispersed one blast after the other, throwing the Commander's flames away in every direction; he refused however to make another blast at his opponent, knowing that he needed to conserve his breath for the opportune moment._

_Zhao looked infuriated at what seemed to be an unwillingness to fight, "You were always weak! You coward!" he called him out, throwing another fire blast at him, which the Prince sidestepped before sending a blast at him, which he himself narrowly dodged._

_The Commander gritted his teeth at him, turning to face him head-on as he charged a fire blast in his hands, ready to end the duel with a last ditch attempt to strike the Prince. Before Zhao could make his final attack, Zuko grabbed his fist, directing a beam of fire above his head, before striking him the head with an fire-powered uppercut, throwing him to the ground; he writhed in pain, raising his head to look at his opponent, who simply glanced down at him, knowing he was victorious. He realised that this was it; he had defeated his rival, finally redeemed his name as he had sworn he would, and paid off the years of work his sister had done in training him. The Prince wanted to gloat at Zhao, and as he simply sat there, he shouted back at him._

_"Come on! Do it!" he demanded, only for Zuko to begin to laugh, first quietly, and then loudly; it wasn't a laugh of humour, but a laugh of victory, his enemy was weak and defeated, yet he demanded he finish the job- the job didn't need to be finished, Zhao's frustration was enough of a victory for him at that point._

_He turned around to face his uncle, and both of them smiled at each other from afar; he had done his duty, and redeemed himself from the besmirching that the Commander had inflicted upon his honour. Suddenly he could hear Zhao scrambling behind him, and the Prince turned to quickly grab his hand, which he directed a beam of fire out of, sending the flames high into the sky above the arena; without another word, the Prince simply smirked back at his opponent, whose eyes opened wide. His hand filled with flames, and a moment later he thrust it into the Commander's left eye, the man screaming in agony as he cringed from the melting of his skin; he realised he was repeating his father's own punishment upon his opponent, and he felt no wrong with it- Zhao deserved the marker that the Prince himself had been forced to bear. If he had to suffer for speaking out of turn, then Commander Zhao deserved his punishment as just as much as he had._

_As Zhao reeled in pain from the burning of his eye, he looked as if he was about to say something, the Prince cut him off with a single line, "A spineless bastard?" he questioned him rhetorically before smacking a fist into his face, throwing him to the ground unconscious; as he walked from his opponent's body, he answered his own question._

_"I am not- I never was."_

* * *

The sight of a burning village brought a smile to Admiral Zhao's face; he had no care for the whims or needs of lesser people, and those that harboured the Avatar would find a fate just like the last airbender's people- utter annihilation, of course. He and his elite firebender guards sat on komodo rhino mounts, moving down along from his battleship toward the village where the Avatar was supposedly taking refuge; as his men hadn't returned with the boy, he assumed that they had been defeated, much to his annoyance- a whole unit of firebenders was not a cake-walk, even for someone as supposedly powerful as the Avatar. As they moved forward, he could make out shouting and screaming, something that didn't disturb him, but rather frustrated him; if his men were so incompetent then perhaps he ought to deal with the last airbender himself. A few moments later, a firebending soldier came into view, running toward them fearfully, his armour covered with singe marks, something that could have only come from firebending attacks.

"Sir! There's a firebender helping the Avatar!" he shouted out, the Admiral glancing forward with a narrowed eye; he couldn't see anyone yet, but he was sure that this firebender would be coming to fight him if he had any sense.

"A firebender? Why would someone betray our nation to the master of the elements?" he questioned, the soldier shaking his head.

"I have no idea sir," the soldier honestly told him, but raised a brow, "but the Avatar looks like he can only bend air." he corrected, making the Admiral cackle.

"Oh, this has made my work a whole lot easier." he admitted, glancing to the guards behind him, "You've got the chains, correct?" he asked them, the guards nodding in affirmation.

Suddenly a large fireball exploded, right in front of them, their steeds crying out and scrambling around fearfully; Zhao covered his eye to dampen the bright light of the flames, and once they disappeared he was able to make sight of their origin. A boy wearing blue clothes stood before him with his hands covered with flames; he narrowed his eye at the boy's face and noted the odd similarities between him and a certain Fire Nation Prince, but the Admiral dismissed such a point as implausible. The boy's face turned into a scowl, and at that moment he realised that implausible did not mean impossible, despite how unusual the situation seemed.

"Zhao!" he called out, the teenager's croaky voice explicitly marking him as the banished Prince, "You're not getting the Avatar." he told him, the Admiral smirking at the boy before him, who was clearly outnumbered, given his entire unit of guards by his side.

"Prince Zuko, what a surprise to see you here. And here I was thinking you had died in a shipwreck." he admitted to the boy with a false sense of surprise; if anyone was going to survive a damn shipwreck, it was the overly determined and seemingly un-killable Prince Zuko.

The boy's face turned into a glare as he took a firebending stance, "You're going to wish I was dead." he gritted his teeth before sending a fire blast toward the Admiral's head, which he dispersed with his left hand.

He shook his head with disappointment, "First the General, then the Princess, and now this little bastard; can I get a break?" he mumbled under his breath, seeing that the spirits obviously weren't working in his favour.

Zuko quickly moved toward him, throwing out a volley of fireballs at his komodo rhino, which simply grunted from the singing strikes; if he was trying to force him to dismount, he was doing an awful job of it. The Admiral smirked and pointed his fist forward toward the banished Prince, his guards sending out fireblasts at him; the boy bent the flames around him, directing the energy of the flames into a spout above him, the flames licking into the sky like lava from a volcano. Zhao gritted his teeth at the technique that he had just presented and shouted out to his men.

"Harder!" he shouted out, he and his men collectively sending beams of fire toward the banished prince, who held back the beams with his own bending momentarily, before being flung out to the ground, seemingly defeated by their overwhelming power; he approached the prone boy on his komodo rhino and filled his hand with flames, and muttered under his breath with a smirk, "I'm going to enjoy this... immensely."

Before he could strike at Zuko, the boy suddenly sent out a fireball striking Zhao in the shoulder and throwing his own attack off balance; he threw another fire blast at him, but was unable to hit as the agile teen jumped out of the wall and threw a whip of flames at his komodo rhino, making the animal screech and reared upward, leaving him unable to hit the boy as he regained his footing. By the time his animal returned to the ground, the Prince stood before him ready to send another set of fireballs at him, which is exactly what he did; the Admiral was able to disperse a number of Zuko's fireballs, before he threw his own charged fire blast at the Prince, knocking him off of his feet. He approached the banished prince, shaking his head with disappointment; at the very least when they last fought, there was a challenge involved, but as he saw the boy laying practically defeated before him he couldn't help but cackle.

"I-I'm not done yet." the boy gritted his teeth as he looked up at him, spinning his arms around as if he was dispersing flames; Zhao had no idea what he was looking at until sparks started to fly between the boys fingers, whose voice turned into a scream of near pain as he finally directed the energy of his right hand, an explosion appearing between the two of them, throwing Zhao off of his komodo rhino and into the air.

Groaning in pain, Admiral Zhao raised his head, glancing at his guards, who looked on in shock after seeing what had just happened, "What are you morons doing! Attack!" he ordered them, the guards then going to send fire blasts in Zuko's direction; pulling himself to his feet, he saw that the banished prince was crouching on the ground, barely dispersing the flames that his guards had thrown at him.

He approached the boy, who looked up at him with contempt, "Well isn't this just an endless cycle- I try to kill you, and you don't die; I just hope this time you'll be gone for good." he told him with a voice of frustration; he truly had hoped the Prince had drowned after that shipwreck, but as he laid before him, he realised that he would prefer the boys demise to be a whole lot more personal.

"You." Zuko mumbled under his breath, before his eyes narrowed at him, "You tried to kill me." he told him with a louder voice, before Zhao smirked at him, bending flames into his palms, "You tried to kill me!" he shouted at him with anger, the Admiral's hands moving down to bend fire at him, though when he did it, his flames were dispersed at directed back at him.

He was pushed back momentarily but sent another fire blast at the Prince, who sent the flames away to his sides, "You are nothing." the clearly aggrieved boy muttered to himself, Zhao cackling as he threw fire blast after fire blast at him.

"I am Admiral Zhao. Zhao the Conqueror! Zhao the Moonslayer!" he entitled himself, so sure that he would fulfil his destiny and destroy the Northern Water Tribe; as his fire blasts continued to be deflected by Zuko, the boy muttered once more under his breath.

"I am nothing too." he admitted, before smirking at the Admiral, the face he made was something he would only expect on his sister's face; he thought for a moment that the boy would be so forward as to go ahead and ruthlessly kill him right then and there.

He threw a final fire blast at the Prince, who simply dispersed the flames before sending out a wave of fire to hold back Zhao's guard. He repeated the actions he had done a few moments prior, and this time, lightning really did come out of his hand, directing a blast right before Zhao's feet, throwing him into the air in a state of frozen shock; he hadn't been fried alive, but as he hit the ground he considered it might have been a fairer fate. He yelped as he felt his joints go all the wrong directions, writhing in pain on the ground as he tried to recollect himself; he turned to face his guards once more, his face contorted into a pained scowl.

"Kill the Prince! Kill him now!" he demanded, his guards nodding fearfully before turning to face Zuko.

Zhao slowly returned to his feet, and felt the pain in his legs and back as he tried to move forward toward the banished prince, who was dispersing and redirecting the flames that the guards sent his way. It just happened by the time the Admiral was capable of rejoining the fight, they were completely covered by water; looking up he saw who he assumed to be the Avatar, sitting on the head of a giant sea serpent, directing water out of its mouth via grappling its whiskers. He face-palmed at what he had just seen, and his mood was soured further by seeing the traitor Prince joined by others who would dare oppose him; female warriors wearing green, all of which bore golden fans, ready to fight him and his guards. The clearly alive Prince Zuko smirked as he got to his feet, noting the appearance of his allies.

"You're so screwed now."

* * *

Holding his fan ready, Sokka smirked at his opponents, who were definitely outmatched with the Avatar and a firebender on their side; he didn't want to trust Zuko out of principle, but after seeing what he had just done to their enemies, he couldn't help but feel a inkling of respect for the Fire Nation teen. He and the Kyoshi Warriors surrounded the group of mounted soldiers, who were unable to do much but bend fireballs at them, their fans sufficiently blocking and deflecting their attacks; he stood beside the injured Fire Nation boy, offering out a hand in assistance.

"Come on ash-maker, we're not done yet." he chided him, the boy rolling his eyes as he drew out the two katanas he had been wielding earlier.

For a bender, he was pretty good at fighting with weapons, to the point at which the Water Tribe boy never would have suspected him to be a bender if it weren't for the actions he had made earlier to defend the Warriors from their firebender enemies. He held out his own fans and readied himself for a barrage of flames, both him and Zuko deflecting them away with their weapons, before the Fire Nation boy raced forward to strike at who looked to be the enemy leader, a man with obnoxious looking sideburns and an eye-patch. The two of them got into a bit of a tussle, the young firebender throwing the older man to the ground, before whacking him in the face with his fists; he had never expected him to get so into fighting, after what he had seen in training he expected that the Fire Nation boy would be at the very least reserved in his combat.

"Go get him, Zuko!" he cheered as he deflected more fire blasts with his fans, before retracting one of the instruments to throw at a mounted soldier, knocking him right in the helmet.

He and the Kyoshi Warriors dealt with the rest of the Fire Nation soldiers with relative ease, knocking a number of them off of their mounts before sending the animals careening around; they were able to knock a few of them off with the wild beasts that they were meant to be riding. When the firebenders came at them on foot, they were able to knock them down with their fans, Suki personally taking out a number of them while Zuko continued to brawl with the enemy commander.

"Defence into offense." he mumbled under his breath as thought back to the training that Suki had given him, appreciating their mantra in action.

"Why won't you die!" he could hear the angry side-burns man scream, Sokka quickly grabbing a fan from the ground and throwing it at the man's head, throwing him off of Zuko, who looked back at the Water Tribe warrior with appreciation, although it was masked by a face of frustration.

"I had him." the Fire Nation boy told him, to which he simply chuckled as he patted him on the shoulder.

"Of course you did, buddy." he mockingly addressed him, the Fire Nation boy looking to the dazed enemy commander before looking back to Sokka.

"Sokka, you've got to get the Avatar and leave- his men are going to burn Kyoshi to the ground if you don't." he told him, the Water Tribe warrior nodding at the suggestion, already having considered the thought; he noted his friends flying on Appa above them, the master airbender throwing blast after blast of wind at the Fire Nation troops that were still trying to get ashore.

"Aang! Katara!" he called out to them, his sister nudging at Aang, who sent the giant snot monster down to land behind them.

"Sokka, we need to go. Now!" Katara demanded, the warrior raising his hands with frustration.

"That's why I called you!" he told her with frustration, before turning to Zuko and the Kyoshi Warriors, "Thanks guys- I hope side-burns guy goes away when we get out of here." he told them his hopes for the island, knowing it would be unfair for Kyoshi Island to suffer for their mistakes.

"No problem, Sokka. Get out of here quick, I'm pretty sure this guy won't be down for long." Suki indicated to the still dazed side-burns guy, the Water Tribe warrior nodding before pacing his way to Appa's side, Katara helping him climb up onto the saddle.

"Good luck, Avatar; I hope that you can fix this world." Oyaji addressed them, the three of them acknowledging him with hopeful smiles before Aang pulled on Appa's reins.

"Yip yip!" he called on the giant beast, which groaned before flying up into the air.

Looking back to the Warriors, he waved out, and they waved back, seeming far more sincere than when he had first met them and insulted their abilities; he knew his sexist presumptions had gotten the better of him, and he knew that he ought to change if he was going to get a better view of the world- less 'Fire Nation spies' and more working together to defeat the Fire Lord.

* * *

Drawing out her katana, Suki approached the downed enemy commander, who Zuko had been fighting only a few moments prior, before Sokka being timely as ever, knocked him right out; she kicked the man onto his back, leaving him sprayed over the ground.

"Now- I don't mind killing you, but I'd like my village to continue to exist, so how about you get on that big ship of yours, and go chase the Avatar?" she asked him, the man gritting his teeth at her.

"Z-Zuko will pay- the traitor will die." he told her with a dazed but seemingly determined tone, before she kicked him square in the chest, his armour blocking most of the actual damage she could could have inflicted; as he cringed painfully, she stood above him with a glare of disdain.

"No- you will leave, or you're going to find out just how sharp our fans are." she demanded of him; Amari stepped forward behind her and pointed at the man with a smirk.

"And if anyone's killing Zuko here, it's me, dumbass." she declared, Suki rolling her eyes at her fellow warrior's antics, before turning back to face the man.

"Do we have an understanding?" she asked him, the man narrowing his right eye at her.

"The Fire Nation will come back and destroy this place." he told her, now with less determination and more spites, to which she pushed her katana closer toward his neck.

"Did you mishear me? You will leave and never return, or you and your men here will die." she clearly set out her terms.

He begun to laugh under his breath as he inched backwards away from her blade, "Yes I hear you, girl." he admitted, before glancing at the Fire Nation boy who still stood with his own katanas ready, "You're done for- you're never coming home now." he mocked him, the boy stepping forward to stand beside her.

"You're wrong- my task doesn't end just because I broke some stupid rules; if you keep trying what you're doing, you know what will come after you." he told him with a sense of determination that made even her go wide eyed at Zuko; he wasn't usually so serious, or angry at that, but with the man before them, it seemed like he was a different person.

The enemy commander got up to his feet and slowly backed away, indicating to his injured men to follow, and quickly disappeared over the hillside, although not before addressing their Fire Nation ally one last time, "Enjoy your time with your new girlfriends, my Prince." he mocked him, the boy beside her relenting to throw a fireball at him, something she didn't even know he was capable of until only a few minutes prior.

"My Prince?" she asked him, confused by why he would be referred to as such.

"It's not important." he simply told her, Suki narrowing her brows at him.

"Yes it is." she told him, before indicating to her fellow warriors, who surrounded him, "Who are you?" she asked him once again, thinking that after a month of knowing him, such a question wouldn't need to be repeated.

"I am Zuko." he told her as matter-of-factly, making the head warrior roll her eyes at him, before she and the Warriors completely surrounded him, "I don't want to fight you guys- I just want to return home." he explained himself, to which Suki nodded; she already knew that story, and for the most part it didn't seem like he had lied about anything but his firebending abilities; avoiding certain topics was another in it's entirety.

"Wrong answer." she told him, whacking him in the arm with her fan; as he cringed in pain from the blunt attack, he looked up at her, unsure as to why she had struck him.

"Why'd you do that?" he questioned, to which she simply smirked.

"You're going to tell us who you are, who that side-burns guy is, and why you're banished." she laid out for him, Zuko sighing.

"Okay, fine." he admitted, before he looked up at her with a sense of distraught, "But can you promise you won't throw me to the Unagi?" he asked her, the head warrior shaking her head.

"No promises, Fire Nation." she admitted, before the most unlikely of people stood forward to defend Zuko.

"Hey- I said that if he did end up defending our village from a Fire Nation attack then he would have earned our trust." Amari argued, before narrowing her eyes at the boy, "I don't like you that much, but you saved Kyoshi from that dumbass with the side-burns, I think that deserves a little respect." she admitted, Suki turning to face her fellow warrior with a face of annoyance.

"He lied to us this entire time. Are you just going to ignore that?" she questioned her, the other warrior shrugging.

"He might of lied, but he did the right thing, didn't he?" she asked, the head warrior sighing with frustration before turning back to face Zuko.

"She's right. You did do the right thing." she admitted, but narrowed her eyes, "But you can't stay here any longer- seeing what that guy was saying, he probably wants you dead." she noted, to which he nodded with intense agreement.

"Yes. I'm pretty sure he sunk my ship." he admitted, the girls all looking on in realisation.

"Huh- that would explain a lot." Suki admitted, glancing out to note the very large battleship that was docked by their island's shore; she narrowed her eyes at him once more,

"But you need to explain yourself, because all of this doesn't sound like it can be ignored any longer."

"You're right." he acknowledged, making her look back at him with surprise.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I needed to address the reasons for why I was here, and this situation has given me the drive to do what I have been wanting to do." he admitted, Suki looking on at him with slight respect, knowing his determination didn't usually come so easily.

"And what is that?"

"To find my uncle. He's in danger as long as Zhao is out there." he admitted, glancing over to note the large and foreboding battleship that had only being marginally damaged by Aang's ingenious use of the Unagi.

"If you can beat him, then why is he dangerous."

"Because he tried to assassinate me, and my Uncle is the only person who will stand up for me." he furthered, Suki looking at him sympathetically.

"We're here to stand up for you, although we don't know exactly why." she acknowledged, the boy chuckling at her words.

"Well, I just committed treason against the Fire Lord, that's why."

* * *

A fat old Fire Nation man who loves tea; given all considerations, Azula considered that her uncle shouldn't be that hard to find, but after over a week chasing around the Southern Earth Kingdom, she had run out of leads. The man was extremely evasive, sociable to the point of using it like a weapon; if he wasn't going to be the hardest fugitive of the Fire Nation to find, she didn't know who would be. The Crown Princess momentarily considered the legend of The Deserter, Jeong Jeong, a Fire Navy Admiral who had deserted their nation and the war over ten years prior, but unlike her uncle, he wouldn't have been scouring around the Earth Kingdom to find a lost nephew. She gritted her teeth with frustration as she walked through another occupied Earth Kingdom town, where again, there was mentions of a man like her uncle, but a number of days out of date, and no idea of his path or trajectory; as she had followed the old man's trail she came to consider that perhaps he wasn't directly looking for Zuko, who she knew to have been shipwrecked, and therefore most logically located by the coast if he was still alive. Iroh's path had led her deep into the south-west of the Earth Kingdom, in areas that were only marginally controlled by the Fire Nation at best; if he got out of Fire Nation territory, it would become substantially harder to capture him, as she would likely be forced to be as stealthy as her target to avoid being noticed by the local. She considered that perhaps he was aiming exactly to do that, as he probably would understand that it was harder, though not infeasible for Fire Nation authorities to track him down in Earth Kingdom ruled territories. Her thoughts returned back to her brother, who she believed wholeheartedly had survived whatever annoying attack Zhao had made upon his ship, but even then she had no idea where he would have gone; there was a possibility that her brother and uncle could have already met up once more and were planning to do whatever treasonous ideas her uncle had.

"Where are you, brother..." she mumbled under her breath, certainly not expecting to run into the boy; she knew that he must have been greatly frustrated by the whole situation with Zhao trying to murder him, and wouldn't be surprised if he was covertly tracking the Admiral down to finish what he started.

She returned to her personal guard, who stood at the edge of the village waiting for her to return from her search; she certainly preferred to be more hands on with her hunt than most people would be, as Azula found great pride in doing her work herself.

"We need to get back to the tank-train at once; I believe my uncle is most likely heading to the north-east of here, and as such we should follow in suit." she explained, her guards nodding and leading her along the road toward her tank-train, a large machine that was an engineering wonder, taking the best aspects of a steam train and a tundra tank and putting them in one vehicle.

"Princess." one of her guards addressed her, pointing behind them; she turned around to note the swift approach of a messenger hawk, a clearly official message grasped within its talons.

"Hmph- it seems that we might have some news." she acknowledged, the bird landing on one of her guards shoulders before he grabbed the message from it's talons, handing it to Azula.

Unfurling the message, she begun to read its contents in her head, "Crown Princess Azula, we bless you good fortune. It has come to the attention of the Fire Navy that your brother, Prince Zuko, has been found alive on an island called 'Kyoshi', and he was responsible for preventing the Avatar from being captured by Fire Navy forces. By the laws of our nation, he has committed high treason against the Fire Nation and therefore is branded a fugitive. We hope this message provides you with intelligence you might require for your mission in hunting down the fugitive General Iroh. Sincerely, the Ministry of Military Affairs, Caldera City." she read, her eyes growing wider with each sentence.

"Wh-what." she simply muttered, her guards looking confused at her shock.

"Your highness, what is-" one of them begun, the Princess raising a hand to cut them off.

"Do not assume to speak to me." she gritted her teeth, before returning to scan her eyes over the paper; she looked back up to her guards, "There has been a change of plans; Prince Zuko is alive and has betrayed the Fire Nation, we will capture him and lure my uncle in with my brother as bait." she explained to her guards, who nodded in understanding, "Good, let's get this over and done with; set a course southward, I want to reach the south coast of the Earth Kingdom as quickly as possible." she directed the helmsman of the vehicle who stood awaiting her commands, the man nodding before entering the front of the vehicle, preparing to start the engine.

"What will we do with your brother after General Iroh is captured?" one of her guards asked her, the Princess scoffing.

"He will face the fate I decide for him; it is only fair, I did make a promise to him after all." she admitted, thinking back to what she had sworn to her brother; as her guards entered the tank-train, she stood outside and looked up at the clouds, muttering under her breath in frustration of the turning of events.

"What were you thinking, Zuzu?"


	9. Tea and Treachery

_"Was it the right thing to do?"_

_Those words had been stuck in his mind in the week since he had duelled Zhao, but as he stood on the deck of his ship with his uncle, he had finally found the confidence to ask that question; his uncle clasped a hand on his shoulder, his assurance being felt physically instead of through any stupid proverb, much to his relief._

_"Prince Zuko, what you did was your choice to make. I couldn't have advised you on a matter so personal." he admitted, the Prince turning to face his uncle; he was usually so timely in handing down his thoughts and advice on matters of the Prince's plans and actions, but with Zhao, he seemed uncannily silent._

_"Uncle." he addressed him, looking right into his eyes, "You must have some thoughts on the matter." he asked again, Iroh sighing before looking out onto the water._

_"This rivalry you have held, it has been around for a long time, longer than I have truly been a good uncle to you; it was for you to act upon, not me- if I was to, that would be selfish and wrong of me." he admitted to his nephew, who looked at him with confusion._

_"But Uncle, if what I did was dishonourable, you would say something, wouldn't you?" he furthered, to which his uncle shook his head._

_"It does not matter now. You have done the deed, and just like you, Zhao will bare that mark until his last day." he explained, the tone of regret audible in his voice; he knew that his uncle felt saddened and uncomfortable about Zuko's scar, even more than the young prince himself._

_He had grown to accept why he had received the scar, and the lesson from it was as clear as day; he should never be a coward, and not being a coward was one of the many things that was going through his mind as he burnt out Zhao's left eye_

_"I will send a message to Azula soon. She ought to know the deed has been done." he acknowledged, realising that he and his sister had worked together in achieving his dream of destroying Zhao, long before his father had banished him._

_"Yes, I am sure she will be happy that you have taken the path she desired of you." Iroh acknowledged, the Prince noting the spite in his uncle's voice, a feeling that was rare to find with the retired general._

_"Azula didn't make me burn Zhao." he argued in her favour, narrowing his eyes at him, "If anything it was father. His... lesson, it has paid off." he relented to speak so openly of his greatest dishonour, but he knew it was quite relevant to the situation._

_His uncle looked at him with apprehension, "Nephew, are you sure that is the man you want to be?" he asked him, who narrowed his eyes._

_"What kind of question is that?" he asked his uncle with a genuine tone of disbelief, "I will be my father's heir- the Crown Prince of my nation, once more, when I return with the Avatar." he assured his uncle, who looked out to the water._

_"Prince Zuko, you are your own man. You shouldn't let others define you." he advised him, the Prince raising his single eyebrow at his uncle's words._

_"Isn't that exactly what you're trying to do? Define me?" he accused him, the retired general sighing as his scrunched a hand on his nose bridge._

_"I- I only want what is best for you, nephew." he simply told Zuko, who looked back at him with a face of determination._

_"I only want to find the Avatar and restore my honour." he told his uncle before turning around to walk back toward the brig, before realising the old man still remained by the railing, "Are you coming to dinner, Uncle?"_

_Iroh's face turned into a grin, "I wouldn't miss it." he admitted, pacing up behind his nephew, "Will you be joining the crew for Music Night afterwards" he asked, Zuko glaring at him with utter contempt._

_"Over my dead body."_

* * *

"Your highness."

Usually Zuko would feel at ease from the deference suitable of his title, but at his current moment, he couldn't feel that it was a spit in the face; he hadn't changed the moment he begun shooting fire from his hands, and even when he was found out to be a banished prince of the Fire Nation. He was always Zuko, and he knew that the Kyoshi Warriors would eventually see that; obscuring the truth of his background didn't make the work he did on the island any less sincere.

"Nakata." he acknowledged the girl in front of him, who had opened the door of the room to give him sun light; he went from an unventilated dojo to a make-shift prison cell in the village hall- it was surprisingly an improvement in a number of regards.

"We've got news. And I'm unsure if you're going to like the first half." she admitted, the boy rolling his eyes; his entire life was a culmination of bad news, another little bit on top wasn't going to hurt him now.

"I'm sure I can handle it." he dismissed her claims, indicating to her by raising his head, the girl revealing a piece of paper from behind her back; he scanned the piece of paper, and immediately realised that there was an image of his face scribbled on it, although he still had his ponytail and armour on in the depiction- the seal of his father said it all- he was a fugitive of the Fire Nation.

"I'm a fugitive." he simply responded, the Kyoshi Warrior nodding in seeing that he had clearly comprehended the contents of the piece of paper.

"That brings us to our second bit of news." she furthered, the Prince furrowing a brow at her.

"Yes?" he asked her, the girl showing a bit of apprehension before continuing.

"Oyaji has concluded that you need to leave our island as soon as possible, as so the Fire Nation doesn't come here and burn it down like they were going to." she explained, to which he nodded, already understanding the implications of what him being a fugitive meant.

"I am sure you don't want the Rough Rhino's on your doorstep, but then again, I don't think they have boats." he acknowledged, the girl looking at him with confusion, having no clue as to who he was referring to.

"Uh- yeah, as I was saying, you have to leave, and it's your lucky day because we're going with you." she explained, putting on a rather fake grin and wide arms.

"So you're going to be my bodyguards?" he assumed, the girl shaking her head.

"No!" she yelped, "We're going to help in the war, because we know how bad it is on the mainland, with refugees and all." she explained, furrowing a brow, "Suki recommended we do it, and she offhandedly suggested we drag you along at least for a while, so the Fire Nation might catch your trail somewhere away from our island." she furthered, the Prince nodding with comprehension.

"Well that does make sense." he admitted, "I am Fire Nation, and I know you shouldn't trust me, but stopping you isn't my job." he defended himself, even without Nakata having made any glares at him- she was nicer than the others, but not much nicer, and he knew no one would take kindly to cooperating with their enemies.

"Hmph- then what is your job?" she asked him, the Prince's head dropping down in thought; he was to capture the Avatar, but he stopped Zhao from doing so because it was the only choice he could make- he didn't know what he would do if they wouldn't accept him back.

"Well, I don't know if I even have one anymore." he acknowledged, "To my people, I must have died and suddenly come back to life helping the Avatar." he admitted in considering what an outsider might have thought of his encounter with Zhao.

She raised a finger, "Technically..." she begun, before raising her voice for emphasis, "Technically you are still a Kyoshi Warrior, and we would consider it an honour to have you by our side, despite being a Fire Nation Prince and firebender and all that." she admitted, the Prince smirking at her before his eyes widened.

"Oh no." he muttered under his breath, looking up to her, "You people are going to force me to wear the make-up, aren't you?" he looked in horror, the girl chuckling at him.

"Well I'll have to clarify with Suki, but you are right. It's our tradition." she noted, the boy grimacing it thought of having to wear the embarrassing make-up again; he thought of a way out, and his eyes narrowed in thought.

"Um..." he mumbled, Nakata looking back his way with confusion.

"What is it, ash-maker?" she asked, the boy raising his eyes to meet hers.

"Have you ever heard of the Blue Spirit?" he asked her, the girl's eyes narrowing.

"Uh, just some stories from fishermen. Some vigilante who supposedly steals from bad people, fights ruffians, that sort of thing. Heard he uses two broadsw-" she begun to ramble before her eyes opened wide in realising what she just said, "Wait a minute! You're the Blue Spirit?!" she asked him, her mouth open wide with shock.

"Yes- it was my alter ego when I wanted to do 'un-Princely' things." he acknowledged, the girl's eyes widening.

"That explains so much!" she exclaimed, "Swords! Fast! Supposedly beats up douches!" she shouted what she knew about both Zuko and the Blue Spirit, meshing them together, "Why didn't you tell us earlier?! This is so cool! I bet Oyaji will let you go free now, just watch!" she assured him, the boy's eyes opening wide realising what she might do, reaching a hand out to stop her walking out of the room.

A few moments later he heard her voice shout out, echoing through the village, "Zuko's the Blue Spirit!" and few after that, he heard the cries and shouts of amazement from villagers, and then when the shouts had died down, Oyaji peered his head past the door into the small cupboard that he had been forced to call his home.

"You're what?" he asked him with wide eyes, the Prince nonchalantly repeating Nakata's words.

"I'm the Blue Spirit." he told him, whose eyes opened further.

"The Prince of the Fire Nation, son of the man who desires to destroy the other nations, is the Blue Spirit?" he furthered, the Prince's eyes narrowing at his rather defaming description of his father, before he simply nodded.

"Yes, I am. Used a theatre mask: Love Amongst the Dragons, ever heard of it?" he simply told him, the village leader's jaw dropping.

"You used a mask from a play to rob people?" he asked him, the Prince shrugging his shoulders.

"Not much robbing- I was the guy who beat up the robbers." he clarified, Oyaji shaking his head before addressing him again.

"And why did you decide at this so opportune moment to reveal your dual identity?" he asked, the Prince sighing.

"Well I didn't think it was overly relevant." he admitted, raising a brow at him, "I didn't even think people here would have heard of the Blue Spirit." he acknowledged, before looking at him with realisation, "And I really didn't want to wear Kyoshi Warrior make-up if I'm going to be stuck with them in the Earth Kingdom; so I have my own disguise, don't worry." he assured him, the village leader looking aghast at his words.

"You have a disguise?" he questioned him again, Zuko chuckling.

"Ah, not exactly. Theatre masks are pretty common, I'm sure any good port will have one for me to buy... or, you know." he indicated, as to what Oyaji had referred to earlier; the Prince didn't like to, but if push came to shove, he could steal like he was an actual spirit.

"This is not how I expected interrogation to turn out." he admitted, the Prince raising his single eyebrow.

"That was interrogation?" he asked, the village leader chuckling.

"It was only interrogation if you didn't enjoy it." he clarified, the Prince grumbling at him with frustration.

"I certainly didn't like being stuck in a room for a week." he declared, "But the tea was good." he admitted, knowing that Kyoshi Warriors cut into his soft spot of reminiscing about his uncle; if they had brought in turtleducks he might have started sobbing and telling them his deepest feelings, not that he would have wanted to do that.

"Well I'm sure that you will be grateful of our mercy." Oyaji admitted, his eyes narrowing on the boy, "You won't find yourself on the Unagi's tasting platter." he assured him, the Prince chuckling at what he had initially thought his fate to be.

"Oh, so it wasn't going to be Amari beating me to death." he acknowledged, the village leader looking back at him dead serious.

"We couldn't trust any common man or woman to kill the son of the Fire Lord, after all."

* * *

"Grand Lotus Iroh, I didn't expect to see you in my own palace."

Iroh smiled at the sight of his friend, King Bumi, who stood up to greet him, looking self-consciously at his own clothing, "Perhaps I should have worn something better to meet your, your highness." he acknowledged with a smirk, the two of them laughing at his joke, noting the rather drab clothes that Iroh had been wearing in his walking through the south-western Earth Kingdom.

"Ah you look fine how you do!" Bumi assured him, pulling his old wrinkled fingers to comb through his beard, "It looks... rustic." he acknowledged, the retired general chuckling.

"Well I do think my beard looks quite fine." he acknowledged, pulling at the long scruff that had grown over his face; he had usually kept it well trimmed, even in his retirement, but he had decided to let it grow out to further his disguise, "Did you want a cup of tea? I've been itching for one after having to walk all the way up the city." he admitted, the King nodding with a smile.

"Hmph- yes, we really do ought to use that cart system for something other than mail. They keep telling me it's too dangerous." he acknowledged, the retired general remembering the system of carts that he had seen running through the city, "Tea is always wonderful, and I know you make it brilliantly." he acknowledged, Iroh bowing to him.

"It is my greatest pleasure, truly." he told him with a genuine smile before drawing out his teapot, "Do you have any leaves with you?" he asked, the King turning to his guards.

"Get some tea leaves from the tea room." he requested them, the guards quickly making their way to go retrieve what he desired.

"You have a whole room for just tea?" he asked him, Bumi smirking back with a crooked smile.

"Most certainly. One can never have enough, and the tariffs keep running in." he acknowledged, before indicating for Iroh to sit upon his table, "Please sit, I'm interested to hear what stories you have from your time at sea." he asked him, the General nodding with thought back to his time with nephew.

"We played a lot of music together. We were our own band that played for ourselves. It was an enlightening experience, truly." he told him, before chuckling, "But my nephew never wanted a part of it. I could understand why, an angry teenager not wanting to be embarrassed in front of a bunch of grown men." he considered, the old king chuckling in hearing his story.

"That is quite the thing. I try to have parties, but everyone seems to be far too interested in pleasing me than to dancing and having fun." he noted with a pout, "I'm a hundred and twelve years old and I still like a bit of fun. Some people are really sour, aren't they?" he asked him, who nodded with consideration.

"With enough care, you can make someone who was sour sweet." he noted, thinking about both his relationship with his nephew and his nieces relationship with him; love and care came part in parcel with fun and happiness, and it seemed that at the very least his niece and nephew were both heading in the right direction, perhaps Zuko a little more than his sister.

Bumi raised his wine cup that he had placed on the table up in his hand, indicating to the retired general, "Perhaps you should try that on your brother. You never know, it might work." he suggested with a wink and smile that could only make Iroh break down laughing.

"Oh, spirits. I wish that could be the case, my friend, I truly do." he admitted, his voice still filled with humour but his mind feeling a sense of regret for how his brother had turned out- a mix of bad parenting and a distasteful personality would do a lot to make a man into the most feared in the world.

They were interrupted by the King's guards returning with some tea leaves and a pot of water, "Your highness, here is the tea leaves you asked for." one of the guards offered, Iroh taking the items from the tray, setting them down on the table before him.

He quickly poured the water and the tea leaves into his teapot together, using his firebending to slowly warm the mixture. He then poured the hot liquid into two cups each, handing Bumi one of them, the old king grabbing the cup and holding it up to get a smell of it.

"This smells delicious, Iroh." he admitted with a grin, before sipping from the cup slightly, his eyes widening before he reeled back, "Ah- um- a little hot." he admitted, the retired general chuckling at his reaction.

"No worry." he assured him, "I am sure that it will cool down quick."

Suddenly the doors of the palace opened, and the two of them glanced down to see who had arrived; a guard stood before them, seemingly frustrated and angry.

"My king, there are intruders in Omashu." he told him with a gruff voice, approaching the large table in the centre of the room.

"Intruders? Has the Fire Nation sent spies in?" Bumi asked, the soldier shaking his head.

"I don't think so- there's two Water Tribe children and a boy with tattoos." he explained, both of the seated men glancing to each other with interest.

"Tattoos, you say?" the King asked, the guard nodding.

"Arrows on his hands and head." he clarified, the retired general's eyes widening.

"The Avatar has returned." he simply said, the King eyeing him with agreement.

"It seems so. Your nephew was searching for him, was he not?" he questioned him, who sighed with acknowledgement; he did not want his nephew to hunt down the Avatar, but it was something he had been forced into doing by the Fire Lord.

"Yes. I just hope that my nephew... or my niece for that matter, don't try and catch the last airbender." he admitted, Bumi chuckling at his words.

"Airbenders are masters of evasion, that's one thing to remember."

* * *

Sitting on the deck of the small fishing boat they had hired, Suki felt a sense of dread in leaving her home island; for one she had never left it, and she knew that the Earth Kingdom was an unsafe place to be. She reminded herself that was exactly why they needed to go there, to play their part in the war, to help the people of the Earth Kingdom, those that were continuing to suffer from the conflict with the Fire Nation; she knew that they had to leave Kyoshi Island with Zuko, whose presence there now posed a threat to the peace that existed there. To think that the boy across from her was the son of the man running it all shocked her. She didn't know what to think of the Fire Nation boy now, seeing that he was just the same as before- he was kind and unwilling to hurt people just for the sake of it; he wasn't the kind of person you'd expect to be the son of the Fire Lord. She just hoped that he wouldn't become the Fire Lord that they all would despise and fear, because she knew that he was better than that; she and the warriors had come to understand him, and the fact of what he had done to protect their island proved to her that the Fire Nation could maybe become better. How that could come about, she had no idea, but she knew that one day someone would have to end the horrible war that had plagued their world for a century, and it seemed like Zuko was the person who could do that. Nakata sat beside her, shivering from the cold, the head warrior noting the fact all of her girls had taken off their armour while travelling by boat, knowing they had to look like civilians in case the Fire Nation searched the vessel.

"Urgh- it's so damn cold out." she acknowledged, Esumi across from her rolling her eyes at the obviousness.

"Yeah of course it is- it's windy and I'm pretty sure it's nearly the winter solstice now." she acknowledged, the other warrior shaking from the cold still.

"I really wish we had brought better clothes." she admitted, Suki noting the rather basic blue tunics that they were all wearing; being used to wearing their thick armour all the time meant they were usually kept away from wind chill.

Amari, who was standing up on the deck, turned to side eye Zuko, who had remained quiet, "It'd be so helpful if we had someone who had specific abilities that could help us remain warm." she suggested with a tone fo sarcasm, the Prince rolling his eyes.

"You do realise I could accidentally sent the boat on fire, right?" he indicated to the wooden structure upon which they were sailing; the boat captain stepped forward and eyed the two of them`.

"No fire on my boat, got it?" he warned, the warriors nodding in understanding.

"What about tea then?" Suki suggested, the Fire Nation boy's eyes widening in thought.

"I'm bad at making tea." he simply told them, the warriors looking amongst themselves momentarily.

Nakata raised a finger in consideration, "You're better than the rest of us at making it." she noted, Suki nodding with agreement.

"You've gotten better Zuko." she admitted, reaching down to grab the teapot from their luggage under the timbers of the boat, "Here, you can heat it with firebending, can't you?" she asked him, the Prince nodding in concession, glancing to the boat captain.

"I can do it without flames." he assured him, the captain shrugging.

"Hmph- go on then." he allowed, Zuko nodding before indicating to the pots of water that sat at the front of the boat.

"Amari, water please." he asked her, the warrior rolling her eyes in taking his request, grabbing a pot before handing it to him.

He then poured the water into the already prepared teapot, placing his left hand underneath it to begin heating the mixture; heating the pot took a small while, but within a minute he had readied it, steam coming from the spout of the teapot. He indicated to the warriors, who pulled out a cup each, before pouring each of them a cup; Suki took her cup and smelt the fine aroma of the tea. She felt relieved that tea was one of the things they had brought with them, a necessity for any travelling group. Sipping from the cup, she realised that the taste wasn't half bad; she knew Zuko had been working on his tea-making skills since he arrived on the island, and it seemed he had reached a threshold where the tea tasted better rather than worse.

"It's actually good." Sawa admitted, her eyes widening, "Guys, Zuko can actually make tea now." she told them with a smile, raising her arms into the air, "This calls for a celebration!"

"No- no- please we really don't need to." he dismissed her offer, the girl sitting back down with a pout.

Amari raised a hand and nodded, "Well, it really isn't that bad, ash-maker. Or should we call you 'tea-maker'?" she smirked at him, who paled with a look of fear.

"No please, I don't want to become Uncle, not yet." he pleaded, the warriors breaking down into laughter, even Suki joining in; his reactions were always too funny to ignore, especially when it came to being conflated with certain things, like tea making and the skilful use of sticks.

"Okay, Mr. Prince of the Fire Nation." Amari conceded his plea, "You will continue to be known by your other notable attribute, that being a firebender." she accepted, Suki furrowing a brow at him.

"Your bending was pretty good, I must admit." she acknowledged, the Prince scoffing at her suggestion.

"I'm not even that good. I wasn't joking when I said my sister was a crazy firebender. Even my lazy Uncle is a skilled master. The two of them could show you how powerful firebending can really be." he explained to her with a tone of confidence, although he was clearly detracting from his own skills.

"You can't be that bad, you beat that Zhao guy, totally." Nakata piped up, making him chuckle.

"Well I already beat him before. Wondered how he lost his eye?" he asked them, Suki's eyes widening in realising this new revelation- she hadn't found it relevant to even ask how before.

"You burnt his eye. Even after..." she begun, before realising that his scar was a rather touchy topic; he looked at her with some distaste before shaking his head, looking at her more confidently.

"He deserved it. He had said some rather disgraceful things, a number of times actually, and he was continuing to degrade my honour, even after I was banished from my country." he explained himself, the warriors looking on at him in silence; the head warrior didn't even know how to respond to what he just told her- it seemed like their animosity ran deep, deeper than whatever had got him exiled from the Fire Nation.

She broke the silence by turning her mind to their plans for when they got ashore, "Are you all prepared for when we get to the port. I think Zuko's going to need to get that 'Blue Spirit' disguise sooner rather than later." she acknowledged, the Prince nodding with agreement.

"I think there'll be a lot of Fire Nation people looking for me. The bounty and being the son of the Fire Lord ought to get me a lot of attention." he admitted, before his face turned to a fearful grimace, "That is assuming my sister doesn't hunt me down first."

"Is she really that scary?" Nakata asked him, the Prince cringing before drinking from his teacup once more.

"I wouldn't suggest any of you fight her, ever."

* * *

"We merchants hear a lot of stories. I'd be willing to tell you some about your little Prince for some coin."

The Crown Princess frowned at the man's suggestion, knowing that she truly needed information on what transpired on Kyoshi Island around a week prior; she had travelled down to the south coast of the Earth Kingdom where it was refuted trade would be coming in from the island, saving her the time of going there herself. The man before her however, was being rather uncooperative, and that was something she most certainly did not appreciate.

Holding out her right hand, she created a torch of intense blue fire on her index finger, "Do I have to ask you again? Tell me what you know, and you won't lose your face- or your fingers- or whatever body part I fancy." she threatened him, the man paling in realisation he wasn't dealing with any ordinary Fire Nation soldier, he was dealing someone far more important and serious.

"I- uh- I'm sorry if I offended you, I'd simply prefer to have some compensation for my information." he told her, who simply huffed before narrowing her eyes at him.

"Your compensation is now not losing a part of your body, or being thrown in a brig and sent to a prison camp." she told him, her face turning to a smirk, "You have no idea who I am, do you?"

He gulped before shaking his head, "Blue fire supposedly only comes from one firebender these days, and that would be you, Princess." he acknowledged her title, before she tilted her head to indicate for him to continue, "Uh- yes, of course. The Prince fought against a Fire Nation commander on Kyoshi Island, helping the Avatar and some warrior women, before the master of the elements escaped on his great beast. Heard it has six legs and can swallow fireballs." he continued, the girl inching her torch closer.

"Stay on topic. My brother, what else do you know about him?"

"Ah, yes- yes. He uses swords and firebending, and- uh- he was supposedly killed in a shipwreck before all of this." he explained, the girl nodding at the sufficient information she had drawn from the man.

"And do you have any idea where he is right now?" she questioned, the merchant shaking his head.

"Probably still on Kyoshi. I haven't heard anything about him in a few days." he admitted, the Princess patting the man on the shoulder.

"Thank you for your assistance, you have earned your freedom." she told him with a fake smile, to which he returned his own, feeling a sense of relief; she cut his nice feelings short by hammering him in the head with her fist and knocking him out the man falling back behind his stall.

She rubbed her hands together, feeling confident in the information she had already drawn, turning to her guards behind her, "My brother isn't likely off that island yet, but we best split up and look around this market for any more information. Your armour is your warrant. Royal Guards ought not to be disrespected, if anyone says otherwise, they will be personally educated." she stressed to her guards, who bowed to her before dispersing about the market, going to stalls to question their sellers for more information on her brother.

She paced her way down through the market, looking at the stalls momentarily before turning to one of their sellers, "I am looking for the banished prince of the Fire Nation, Prince Zuko. Do you know anything about his whereabouts." she simply asked the seller, who looked at her with slight shock and confusion.

"Ah, yes, girly. We've heard a few things about that boy, the one that helped the Avatar, ain't that right?" he asked her, the Princess nodding along.

"Yes- what have you heard?" she asked him, the seller scratching at his goatee.

"Well I haven't heard much, but I heard that the tea merchant, Gansu has been talking to people from Kyoshi lately. Maybe you'll have better luck with him, miss." he considered, pointing over to a stall nearby where the supposed tea merchant would be selling from, Azula nodding with a smirk.

"Thank you for your directions." she acknowledged, before eyeing him momentarily, "I suggest you don't call anyone of my stature girly again, it would be a poor way to find yourself in a bad situation." she advised him, the man gulping before nodding.

"Of course, miss." he accepted her advice, before she quickly begun to pace toward the tea merchant's stall.

She paced her way over to the stall, and found herself annoyed as a man stood in front of her, talking to the merchant; she tapped on the man's shoulder, "Excuse me. I need to speak to the merchant for a moment." she asked, the man responding with a gruff but croaky voice.

"Hey, just give me a..." he begun, stopping as he turned to face her; the man before her was barely one at that, and he had near shaved black hair, golden eyes and a scar on his left eye, a certain image that she might prescribe to the very person she was looking for, bar the fact he was wearing the blue clothes of a foreign peasant.

"Ah, just who I was looking for." she smirked at Zuko, whose eyes paled in seeing his sister, someone he probably didn't expect to find in a run down Earth Kingdom port looking for him.

"Azula."


	10. Treachery in Perspective

_"You will learn respect, and suffering will be your teacher."_

_Princess Azula couldn't look away as she saw her father lower his hand over her brother's eye, scorching it with the pure power of his firebending; her brother's screams echoed throughout the Agni Kai chamber for a few moments before he fell to the ground unconscious. Part of her wanted to gloat, and mock her brother for his weakness and cowardice; another part of her wanted to go down and fight her father herself, for the disrespect he had made not just toward her brother, but her very own honour. She had sworn to stand by her brothers side, and although she hadn't expected it to be in anyway against her father, the sight of her father burning Zuko's face made her realise the possibility. She knew it part that it was her fault that her brother lay unconscious on the floor of the Agni Kai chamber, because she had been the one who had been working with him, helping him achieve his firebending potential, all the while ensuring that he would be confident enough to fight Zhao. She didn't have the foresight to realise that the same confidence would be so stupidly used by her brother to speak out in war meeting against their father's plans. Azula concluded that the situation must have unfolded because of her intervention, her incitement of rage and desire for power within her usually weak willed and cowardly brother._

_"He is not a coward." she mumbled under her breath, knowing that her brother's actions were just in line with what was expected of him; just as she would never expect him to properly fight her in a duel of honour, she knew he would have never dared to lay a finger on their very father, the man he looked up to like no other._

_Despite the lack of attention her brother received from their father, through no real fault of his own, he still had a unrelenting reverence of him, even more than he did of their coward uncle, who sat across from her in the stands, probably balling his eyes out at what had just happened to his 'beloved nephew'. She glanced up to her left side, noting the face of Captain Zhao, the man her brother had sworn to defeat; he wasn't just happy in seeing her brother suffer, he was gloating in his defeat that never should have occurred in the first place; her brother had begged before their father for forgiveness, and even in that he found the spite to smile. She understood that it wasn't wrong to judge her brother a coward given the situation, but the reaction he was giving only further infuriated her._

_"Don't gloat too much, Captain." she addressed him, his eyes turning to note her words, his face looking fearful as she continued, "This has sealed your fate- do you know what my brother will do to you now?" she asked him, whose jaw opened with disbelief._

_"Wh-what do you mean? Your brother has disgraced h-" he begun to argue, Azula cutting him off, not wanting to hear his excuses; her brother had received the greatest mark of dishonour a firebender could ever receive, and she knew now that Zhao would have to, he was obliged to, suffer the same fate._

_"You will burn-" she smirked at him, "and if you do not burn by his hand, I will gladly take up the honour." she warned Zhao, who quickly stepped out of his seat before pacing up the stairs in a fit of fear; she chuckled at his reaction before glancing further up the pews, noting the presence of General Bujing, whose efficient yet ruthless plan had incited her brother to speak out of turn,_

_"Your fate is all the same, old man. You shouldn't have roused the dragon." she told him, rising out of her seat before walking up the stairs herself without another word._

_Glancing back at her defeated brother, she gritted her teeth with frustration, knowing that her brother had found the worst fate he could have; she then heard her father utter the words she did not want to have on top of her brother losing his left eye._

_"For his show of cowardice and great weakness, Crown Prince Zuko is hence stripped of his titles and banished from the Fire Nation, only allowed to return if he captures the Avatar." her father told the crowd, who begun to clap and then cheer in the name of their Fire Lord, unsure what else to do upon seeing such an unexpected outcome for the duel; she knew that her brother wasn't likely to find the master of the elements, the last airbender, who had been missing, out of reach to the Fire Nation for nearly a century since Sozin's Comet._

_She was unwilling to continue looking at her father and his cold eyes, she walked up the stairs and then out of the Agni Kai chamber, pacing herself as fast as her feet could take her; the Princess was angry, unsure how to feel that she was now most likely going to be elevated to Crown Princess, replacing her brother as the heir to the Fire Lord. She had not expected the events as they followed to occur; she knew that she would have the power she desired one day, through direct means or another, but she had no idea that her father was willing to burn and banish her brother for such a simple and minor betrayal. She had wanted to make her brother into the best Fire Lord he could be, her Fire Lord, not her father's, or her uncle's- not even her mother's; Zuko wasn't going to become a banished nobody that was lost to the pages of history. Even if she was the one who became Fire Lord, he would not be the banished and disgraced son of Fire Lord Ozai forever; she was going to make sure at he could restore his honour, no matter the consequences._

* * *

"Brother, I would say I am surprised to see you, but I have been hunting you down after your little escapade with the Avatar."

Azula smirked at her brother, who looked on fearfully as she mentioned his experiences on Kyoshi Island; she knew enough about what happened, and what ever it was, no matter how one looked at it, it was most certainly treason.

"A-Azula, I- I didn't betray the Fire Nation." he told her with a stammer, the Princess raising a brow at him, chuckling at his suggestion.

"Oh, is that so, Zuzu? Then would you explain to me how it was that you ended up fighting off a Fire Nation incursion onto Kyoshi Island to capture the Avatar? That seems like the stupidest thing you've done as of yet." she asked him specifically, the Prince grabbing the bridge of his nose, breathing out deeply with a gruff grumble of annoyance.

"I prevented Zhao from capturing the Avatar." he told her first in a calm voice, before his tone rose higher with anger, "I prevented him from stealing my honour! I am the only one who can do it! Anyone else who tries is my enemy." he argued in a bout of anger, his sister nodding along.

"Well, your enemies are my enemies, brother." she admitted, furrowing a brow, "The intelligence left out the fact that Zhao was the one leading the charge. Perhaps a certain someone thought it wise that be left out." she suggested, her brother's eyes widening.

"Are you saying father doesn't want you to help me?" he asked her, the Princess scoffing at his question, which she thought by that point ought to have been a rhetorical one.

"Of course he doesn't, idiot." she chided him, before raising a brow at him, "I still intend to complete my task, and you are still a traitor in the eyes of our father." she acknowledged, the Prince raising a brow.

"He sent you to capture me?" he asked her with confusion, probably thinking as to how she got to him so quickly.

"No. Father sent me after Uncle." she explained, Zuko's eyes widening with interest.

"Uncle?! Is he okay?" he asked her, the Princess rolling her eyes at him.

"I have no idea. He's still evading Fire Nation forces after his little escapade on Admiral Zhao's battleship." she explained, the Prince raising a brow.

"Uncle fought Zhao?" he asked, the Princess nodding along, before his eyes narrowed, "And he got promoted." he noted, his face turning into a scowl of frustration, "He got promoted after I burnt out his eye. Even then?" he questioned, Azula shrugging at his words of frustration.

"I don't know why. Perhaps he had been doing a competent job as Commander otherwise?" she suggested, her brother huffing with anger.

"I doubt that." he grumbled, before looking to her fearfully, "So... are you going to capture me? Use me to try and find Uncle?" he asked her, the Princess sighing.

"Well, that is why I'm looking for you, brother." she told him, setting her hands alight with flames, "It would be a shame however, if I were to somehow have a lapse in ability, and you were able to outclass me and escape... perhaps find the Avatar once again and redeem your honour." she suggested, the Prince furrowing a brow at her before taking a firebending form, the people around in them in the market stepping back as it looked like they were about to duel.

"That would be quite helpful, sister." he acknowledged her suggestion, the Princess taking her own firebending form, quickly sending a ball of flames at his head, which he dodged with a sidestep before sending a ball of fire at her feet, forcing to step back toward the stall behind her.

"Guards!" she shouted out, her Royal Guards though not in sight, would quickly arrive to handle her brother, giving him ample time to make his escape, just as she had suggested; Zuko quickly begun to race away through the crowd of civilians, his sister following in tow, readying blue flames in her hands, ready to strike him.

She raced through the market, hearing the footsteps of her guards behind her as she tailed after her brother, whose agility was a surprise, able to quickly jump up and through some stalls to another row of the market; following around the corner, she continued her pursuit, sending out some fire balls to try and trip her brother as he quickly raced toward the edge of the market. Though her fire balls missed, she knew they were giving the right image as she skidded around a corner, sending out a beam of blue flames down the narrow path that her brother had left, barely missing his head as he ducked under it; she rolled her eyes at the skill at which her brother was evading, realising if she was actually trying to capture him, she might find it quite a challenge. She raced down the gap her brother evasion had made through the crowd, her hands full of blue fire intimidating the market-goers to get right out of her way she quickly approached her brother; she sent a fire blast from her hand, her brother quickly dispersing the flames with a kick of flames from his own foot, before he jumped through another stall, falling out of her line of sight for a moment. Azula followed his actions, jumping over a stall, causing quite a commotion but making sight of her brother; behind her, her guards stood ready to get to her brother, already ready in their own firebending forms.

"Surround him, get around the back of the market!" she ordered them, hoping they would take her orders without question.

"Yes, your highness." one of the guards nodded, the two behind her quickly making their way to the left toward the edge of the market; she turned back around to face her brother, who stood panting some distance down through the market, the shoppers all moving out of their ways, leaving an open path between them.

"You're quite fast, Zuzu." she jested to him, the Prince sighing before picking up pace again, running toward the edge of the market.

She followed his trail, catching up to him by the time he reached the end of the market, tackling him by the forest's edge; she rolled over the top of him, Zuko throwing her to the side before trying to pull himself back to his feet.

"I've got to try, remember?" she noted to him, before setting her hands alight with blue flames, throwing a fist at his head, the Prince moving to dodge the attack before hitting her arm upward, directing the flames from her hand into the air above them.

She jabbed her brother in the cut before uppercutting him with a flame powered punch; as he fell back onto the dirt, she shook her head with disappointment.

"Come on, Zuzu..." she chided him, filling her hand with flames; she powered up a blast of fire before funnelling its power in a beam, her brother rolling to the side to dodge it before sending out a blast from his right root, hitting her in the shoulder.

"Sorry, Zula." he acknowledged her as she fell back onto the ground, feeling the blunt pain of the strike against her armour.

Behind him appeared her guards, which had finally caught up attempting their flanking manoeuvre, something she hoped would catch her brother some time, but it seemed that it would not; they threw fire blasts at Zuko, who quickly dispersed the flames before sending his own blasts back, knocking the guards off of their feet before turning back to face Azula, who was still reeling from the hit he delivered.

"Thanks." he simply told her, who nodded back as he raced off into the forest, the Princess sighing before pulling herself back to her feet, her guards now all grouping around as they came to assist.

"Well what are you waiting for, go and chase him!" she gritted her teeth, her Royal Guards quickly racing off into the forest behind her, their footsteps loudly pattering past as she tried to get her breath back; she then mumbled under her breath, seeing that she was alone again, and fairly certain her brother would be able to outrun her guards in a thick forest.

"I hope he knows what he's doing."

* * *

"What was that?"

Suki tilted her head to the side, glancing away from her friend as they sat around a table in the tavern; they had been sitting around getting some refreshments while Zuko went out shopping, and she had just heard a rather loud noise from outside the tavern.

"Probably somebody just dropping their things." Esumi dismissed her question, "Can we get some more snacks?" she requested, the head warrior raising a brow at her.

"No, we have barely any money as it is, I'm not spending it all to fulfil your snack cravings." she argued, before she could make out another sound from outside, this time more discernible, "You can't ignore that sound. Something's going on." she told the warriors around the table, who sighed with frustration, seeing that they were already finding themselves in trouble when they had just arrived at the Earth Kingdom.

"If its just the Fire Nation, we shouldn't get involved." Nakata argued, "We don't want to end up in prison." she argued, the other warriors nodding in agreement.

"No I agree, but Zuko's out there, and I don't want to find him captured by the Fire Nation. That was the whole idea about us kicking him off Kyoshi, remember?" she asked her warriors, Amari scoffing.

"Oh well, if he's out of our hands, then that's a good thing. I don't want that side-burns guy looking for us again." she argued, Suki shaking her head in dismissal.

"Well I'm going to check this out." she simply told her before pacing her way through the tavern toward the front door.

As she opened it, the sounds became clearer, and immediately two Fire Nation soldiers came into her field of view, frightening her; stepping back slightly, she watched them run past the tavern, racing along the side of the market that sat just outside. It seemed to her that someone was getting chased by the Fire Nation; turning her head to the left, she could make out spits of blue and orange flames flying out of the market, making her pale in thought. Suki had never heard of anything like blue fire, and she knew that Zuko could more than likely be the one being chased, but she had no idea; for all she knew, the port town could be harbouring Earth Kingdom rebels that were be hunted down by Fire Nation forces. She knew one thing for certain, that she and the warriors ought to leave the port town as quickly as possible, because if the Fire Nation found out they were warriors in support of the Earth Kingdom, they would be thrown in prison, or worse; she didn't want to think of the fate they might suffer, so she immediately turned her heels and walked back into the tavern, her warriors raising brows at her somewhat fearful face as she returned to the table.

"What's wrong, boss?" Amari asked, the head warrior shaking her head.

"Fire Nation. They're here. And let's just hope they're not chasing down Zuko. As soon as he gets back here, we're leaving." she told them, her warriors nodding, before returning to drink their beverages, knowing they ought to hurry up.

Suki leaned her back against a wooden beam, her mind returning to the issue at hand; the safety of her warriors was paramount, and as long as the Fire Nation was prowling through the port, it was likely that they wouldn't be safe for very long. They currently were still out of their armour, but the hefty bags that carried them weren't exactly hiding their identities. She knew that as soon as they got away from the coast and with it, most Fire Nation patrols, they could return to the comfort and warmth of their armour. She noted the teapot sitting on the table between the warriors and grabbed it, pouring herself a cup, sipping from it and enjoying the fine taste; she remembered that Zuko had gone out to buy them some more tea and rations for when they were trekking around.

As she sipped from the teacup she heard a thumping noise above her, the warriors all looking up in shock, "What was that?" Sawa questioned, Suki glancing around as she continued to hear pattering noises above them; she noted the staircase that led up to the upper floor of the tavern, and indicated to it with a tilt of her head.

"Girls. We need to check what that was." she acknowledged, Nakata and Amari nodding at her, pulling themselves from their seats; glancing back to Sawa and Esumi she indicated to the front door of the tavern, "Check for the Fire Nation... we have to be ready, for anything." she acknowledged, quickly pacing herself to the staircase, the other patrons in the tavern looking to her and her warriors with confusion as they quickly moved around the building.

Pacing up the stairs she could make out a panting noise, Suki glancing back to her comrades with slight worry before continuing onward, approaching where she heard the sound from; opening the door of one of the rooms, she barely missed a fireball being thrown at her head, jutting out of the way, the flames warming her face as they passed by. Turning to face their origin, she saw Zuko on the ground, his face covered with a black fabric cloak; his eyes widened at the sight of her and muttered in a wheeze.

"S-Suki... I thought it was them." he sighed with relief as he pulled the covering off of his mouth, the head warrior raising a brow at him.

"Fire Nation? So it was you running away from them?" she questioned him, the Prince nodding with a gulp.

"Yeah, its- uh- my sister. She found me." he admitted, her eyes widening.

"Crazy firebender, Princess of the Fire Nation sister?" she asked with an aghast voice, to which he nodded with a sigh.

"Yes, and before you start worrying, I think she let me go." he acknowledged, Amari stepping up from behind her.

"Sorry what, she let you go? Isn't that kinda stupid since you're a fugitive?" she asked in clarification, to which he twitched his head to the side.

"You're not wrong. She tried to make it look like she tried, but I was able to run around through the forest and back around here." he explained, the warriors nodding with a sense of confusion.

"So... she's hunting you down now, even if she isn't trying to capture you?" Suki asked him, unsure if what she was saying was exactly describing the situation, which had become beyond confusing.

"Uh, yeah- that's about right." he confirmed, his eyes narrowing, "We need to get out of this port as quickly as possible, I'm sure the guards will double around and search this tavern." he admitted.

"Also... how did you end up getting in here. We're on the second storey." Nakata asked him, the Prince giving a curt smirk.

"The Blue Spirit is very agile." he simply acknowledged, the girl getting his reference as her face turned to a smirk.

"Of course he is." she agreed, before Suki indicated out the door.

"So are we going to go downstairs?" she asked him, who shook his head, pointing to the window.

"I can't risk being seen in the street, I'll sneak out the way I came. We can meet at the northern road out of town." he explained, before cringing, "Oh, and I probably won't be able to take my bags with me." he admitted, Amari audibly huffing behind her.

"Really? So you're agile, but not with anything on you?" she asked him, the Prince shrugging.

"What, could you expect to jump around wearing your armour?" he rhetorically asked them, the warriors all nodding in agreement; the trade-off of having good armour was that it made you slower, but that was counteracted by a good training regime and adaption.

"Fair enough." the head warrior acknowledged, lending out a hand to help Zuko up, "Next time just try and not burn my hair off when you're scared, how about that?" she requested, the Prince rolling his eyes before nodding.

"I promise." he assured her, before he stretched out momentarily turning back to face the window.

"Give me a little bit, but you're more than free to go start walking now. Best get a head start in case my sister's guards catch onto me." he advised them, the warriors glancing amongst themselves before filing out of the room, Suki walking out last, glancing back his way.

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" she asked, the Prince sighing.

"As long as my sister doesn't actually try to capture me, we'll be fine." he assured her, who nodded with a curt smile before making her way back down the stairs into the tavern, returning to the rest of the group, which was quickly getting their bags together to leave.

"We'll have to divvy up his bags; he can't carry them if he's got to, you know." she explained to her warriors, who all nodded, begrudgingly taking a few extra things that Zuko would have otherwise been carrying.

She didn't want to refer to him by name now, knowing that his sister was in the port- if her men caught word that they knew and were working with the banished prince, it wasn't going to end well for the Kyoshi Warriors.

* * *

"Wow, this is really good tea."

Iroh smiled at the Avatar's words, happy that he approved his latest batch of jasmine tea, which he had brewed in celebration of the boy's completion of Bumi's tasks; the boy seemed to be happy to be reunited with his old friend, and that reminded him of how he ought to feel when he finally found his nephew once again. He knew going to Omashu was diversion from his true plans, but meeting the Avatar had given the retired general a great opportunity to understand the boy who would likely have to face off against his brother Ozai.

"Thank you, Avatar. It is an honour to serve you." he admitted, with a curt bow, to which the boy simply grinned.

"Call me Aang." he bowed back to him; beside them, one of the Avatar's Water Tribe friends raised a brow at Iroh, scanning him momentarily.

"So, Iroh- you're a firebender?" he asked him, the old man chuckling.

"Yes- I was once quite renowned for my abilities, but those days are long gone." he admitted, Aang's eyes widening at him.

"You know, I need a firebending master if I'm going to master the elements so I can stop the Fire Nation." he begun, leaning in closer toward the old general, "You could be my firebending master!" he told him with wide eyes, the General shaking his head; he knew the traditions shouldn't be broken, even in a time as dire as their own.

"You must know that there is a set order to learning the elements. I could teach you firebending, but not until after you have mastered both waterbending and earthbending, which from observing your fight with Bumi, I assume you have not." he acknowledged, the boy pouting.

"I still have a lot of work to do..." he admitted, before brightening up with a smile, "But I'm sure that when the time comes you can teach me- and we can have more of this tea!"

"I am sure I could teach you the ropes with tea as well. It is a refined art that is a great asset for anyone." he offered, the Water Tribe boy chuckling at him.

"Wait, seriously? Tea can't be that important." he dismissed, the retired general raising a brow.

"Tea is a gateway to understanding and friendship. It shouldn't be underutilised." he noted, the Avatar and his friends nodding in interest, "I always remind my nephew of that very fact, although I'm unsure if he has yet grasped the power of tea." he admitted, reminiscing to the arguments he had with Zuko over tea.

The Avatar raised a brow, "You have a nephew? Is he a firebender like you?" Aang asked him, Iroh smiling back at him, masking the thoughts he had about his nephew desiring to capture the Avatar.

"Yes. He's good, but I know he can be even better." he noted in thought, before another of the Avatar's friends, the Water Tribe girl, glanced at him with suspicion.

"How did you get here? Did you betray the Fire Nation?" she asked him, her eyes narrowed on him with a sense of fear; he shook his head, knowing that he didn't betray his people in heart.

"I had to make a choice. Between doing what was right, and what was allowed." he admitted, the three of them looking with interest.

"So you betrayed your people because they were bad?" the Water Tribe boy asked him, Iroh shaking his head.

"Honestly, I did not betray my people because of the war, although I personally believe it to be wrong." he admitted, their faces turning to confusion, "I did so to avenge my nephew, who I believe was killed in cold blood by a Fire Navy Admiral." he admitted, his eyes solemn and voice cold, thinking that he still hadn't heard what had happened to Zuko since he escaped Zhao's ship.

"Y-your nephew, he's dead?" the girl asked him, feeling shocked by the revelation; he shook his head profusely, not knowing the truth himself.

"I don't know. Our ship was sunk by that callous Admiral, and he wasn't with us when we used our steamer to escape." he explained, shaking his head, "That's what I'm doing right now. I'm trying to find him."

The Water Tribe boy cleared his throat and raised a finger, "Uh- does your nephew have a really big burn on his left eye?" he asked him, Iroh's eyes widening in shock- the Avatar and his friends had met Zuko.

"Yes- yes, he does." he confirmed, the Water Tribe girl's eyes widening at him.

"You're Zuko's uncle?" she asked him, the retired general nodding in confirmation, his face turning into a smile of hope, realising that his nephew was certainly alive.

"Wh-where is he? I need to find him." he asked them, the three of them glancing at each other with a grimace.

"Zuko was on Kyoshi Island, but we had to leave there because the Fire Nation was attacking; I think the Kyoshi Warriors beat them." the Avatar explained, "He was helping us fight the Fire Nation." he explained, Iroh's jaw dropping.

"Z-Zuko was fighting the Fire Nation? And he was helping you?" he asked, the three of them nodding.

"He's pretty good at fighting." the Water Tribe boy acknowledged, "I'm pretty sure he's fine."

Raising a hand to his forehead, he sighed, "He's a fugitive now- just like me." he admitted, before looking to them, "I need to go and find him, before his sister does." he explained, to which they all looked with confusion.

"Sister?" the Water Tribe girl asked him.

"She is a powerful bender, and she will want to capture us personally." he explained, before clearing his throat, "I think I ought to advise you of something- I'm not just any firebender, I'm the brother of the Fire Lord." he explained, their jaws dropping.

"You're the Fire Lord's brother!" Aang gasped, pointing at him with confusion, "But you're so nice!" he acknowledged with a grimace.

"Thank you, but it is true. Zuko was the heir of the Fire Nation before he was banished by his faather, and now he has comitted treason by helping you." he explained, "I need to find him to stop the Fire Lord from capturing him. He has lost enough already." he told them with a sense of determination, Aang looking at him seriously.

"If you're the Fire Lord's brother, why don't you become Fire Lord to stop the war?" he asked him, Iroh shaking his head.

"If I was to duel my brother, I would have to kill him, and more than that, I'm an old man with no living heirs- I am not the right choice, if that is the path you want to take, Avatar." he acknowledged, the Water Tribe boy stepping forward.

"What about Zuko then? Couldn't he become Fire Lord?" he asked the retired general, who nodded with a sigh.

"I hope that one day he will be." he admitted, not wanting to say another word on the topic, knowing that in discussing his nephew's quest for the Avatar might make the last airbender uneasy about Zuko; Aang glanced to his friends for a moment before smiling back at him hopefully.

"We do too."

* * *

His feet ached as he continued to race along the shadowy alleyway, trying to keep his head down; Zuko was not happy with his current situation, but he had to make the best of it. Azula's men were still hunting him down, and he had had some close calls already in just trying to sneak out of the port-town; he had knocked out two Royal Guards, men that were probably doing their jobs. He had nothing against them, and neither them to him, but they had their roles to play; he had to escape, he swore he would, because he needed to find his uncle. More than that, he needed to deal with Zhao and ultimately the Avatar, who was his ultimate obstacle in returning to his position as Crown Prince, to redeem himself in the eyes of his father; just with the guards he had knocked out, his dealings with the Avatar were in no way personal- he did not care for the boy, and he most certainly didn't want him to threaten the Fire Nation. He felt as if he had been thrown into the worse situation, to be seen as a traitor to his nation, while still desiring to do his duty to it, even if the law would describe him to have forfeited that duty in treachery.

Racing down the alleyway, he leaned himself against the wall of one of the buildings to check around the corner, trying to spot any guards that were still patrolling around the town; to his luck, the street was empty, and he pulled his black face covering down as a scarf that covered his upper body. Glancing down the street, he noted a few carts and street vendors, but for the most part it was clear, and with that, he begun to pace himself down the street, heading towards the meeting spot he had asked for with the warriors. Of anyone, he didn't want them to get involved with his sister, because he knew that unlike himself, she wouldn't relent throwing them straight in a prison brig and sending them to some hellhole back in the homeland; as he walked down the street, he noted a cart that was selling trivialities, and specifically noticed masks hanging from the top of the cart; Zuko eyed around the cart, and noted a Blue Spirit mask on the cart, smirking at the sight of it. As he had told Oyaji, he would need a new disguise, and the Blue Spirit was a great one; another fugitive of the Fire Nation, but no where near as important as a former Crown Prince. He tossed the vendor a silver Earth Kingdom coin, the man raising a brow at him, before Zuko simply indicated to the mask.

"You want a mask- take one." the man grumbled, "You're the most business I've got all day." he admitted, Zuko silently nodding at the man before taking the Blue Spirit mask and continuing to walk on forward.

He continued to pace himself before he spotted another pair of guards, who pointed to him accusingly, "Stop right there, traitor!" they called out to him, Zuko quickly darting to his left, scaling onto the roof of a building before racing along it, the guards following behind, but seemingly not as agile with their heavy metal armour.

He jumped across to another roof, before retying the black fabric around his shoulders, the garb falling down over his chest, before he placed the mask on his face; Prince Zuko disappears, and out comes the silent spirit. He quickly scaled down the wall of one of the buildings, before quickly making his way down through the alleyway, racing past a beggar who reeled back fearfully as he quickly made his way through the town's back streets. He turned around to run northward, his mask still on and his identity secured, he hoped that no one would quickly conflate him with the Blue Spirit; he reached the forests edge once more, pacing into the woods, the foliage covering his view of the town quickly, before he begun to approach the road. After a few minutes he could hear the Kyoshi Warriors distinct voices as he looped back around toward the road; he kept hi pace up, jumping out from the treeline to appear before them, shocking the warriors, of which Amari quickly drew out a fan.

"Zuko?" they all asked, the Prince smirking before drawing off the Blue Spirit mask to reveal his face.

"You are the Blue Spirit!" Nakata cheered, although she furrowed a brow at his outfit, "But aren't you meant to have black clothes?" she asked him, who shrugged with a chuckle.

"That can be dealt with later. Now we have to get out of here, before my sister's men realise that I've escaped the town." he explained, the group nodding; Suki stepped forward and threw a bag at him, nearly pushing him to the ground.

He looked up to her with a slight grimace as she smirked, "Take your bags now, Blue Spirit." she told him, obviously not having enjoyed carrying his things out of the town.

"Sorry about that." he admitted, the rest of the warriors handing him back each the things of his they had been carrying, "I'll try and hide my stuff next time we go into a town, just in case there's a chase." he offered, the head warrior huffing before nodding curtly at his suggestion.

"Yes, and next time, maybe have someone accompany you so you don't end up being burnt to a crisp." she advised him, the Prince smugly scoffing at her suggestion that he wasn't capable of fighting his own people.

"I don't need a baby-sitter. I can fight." he told her, who simply patted him on the shoulder.

"And the whole Fire Nation's probably trying to hunt you down. Maybe you need a little back-up." she suggested once more, Zuko sighing with acknowledgement.

"Yeah, I get it." he admitted, before looking to her and the warriors with a curt smile, "We're in this together." to which Suki smirked confidently.

"Fighters to the end."


	11. Right and Wrong

_Zuko realised as he was throwing up over the side of his ship that he really shouldn't drink any more bajiu; the Prince hadn't grown well accustomed to alcohol, and his uncle had suggested he try it after he grew too angry with his suggestions about tea. He regretted considering that tea was bad, in any regard, as he wiped the disgusting taste from his lips, spitting out into the sea below him; tea was the greatest thing to grace the earth, Zuko admitted to himself at that moment, knowing that it was far superior to alcohol in every regard._

_"Prince Zuko, are you okay?" his uncle's voice called out to him, the Prince shaking his hand at his uncle to try and dismiss his worries._

_"Y-yeah, Uncle. I'm fine, I just need to lie down for a bit." he told him, his uncle nodding at him before indicating to the door of the brig._

_"I'll help you up to your room. You might slip." he noted, Zuko clearing his throat before nodding, realising how uncoordinated he felt._

_As his uncle helped him walk along, opening up the door to the brig, he glanced his way with a furrowed brow, "I think this was a bad idea." he noted, Iroh chuckling at his demeanour._

_"Yes, nephew, I think it was." he agreed, helping him walk along through the dim metal hallway, leading him toward his quarters._   
_Turning around the corner, they reached the doorway of his room, the retired general grasping the handle and opening it up, letting Zuko stumble into the room before ungracefully falling face first on his bed; he turned his head around, glancing up at his uncle, waving a hand at him._

_"I think I'm- uh- gonna lie here for a bit." he told his uncle, who nodded in consideration of his state._

_"That's fine, Prince Zuko. I hope you have a speedy recovery. Do you need any water?" he asked his nephew, who instinctively touched his lips, noting the disgusting taste he still felt in his mouth._

_"Y-yeah. Please." he asked, his uncle nodding before closing the door, leaving Zuko alone in his room, lying on his side with a nauseous feeling still in his gut._

_Zuko didn't like being drunk, and he realised that he probably wouldn't make the same mistake again; it was one of the stupidest decisions he had ever made, and the Prince had been making a serious tally in his head about the stupid things he had done in the sixteen years of his life. He thought over each of them momentarily, considering most of them relating to his rather stupid reactions toward Azula's antics when he was little, and then the stupid things he had said to his father; the Prince tried to not think about the stupidest thing he had done in his life, because he knew that he didn't want to ever think about it again. The reminder that was left on his face reminded him every morning when he was told by his face that he was wrong; Zuko always told himself that he was wrong that day at the war meeting, just as he had been when he had foolishly spoken in front of his father a number of other times prior. There was a part of him that said otherwise, however, and to his frustration, that part of him was exceptionally loud when he was intoxicated. It was the same part that told him that there was nothing wrong with appreciating his uncle's tea, the part of him that said that Azula wasn't just lying to him all the time, that there was a real person behind her mask; that part of him told him his father was wrong- Bujing was wrong- the forty-first division didn't need to die, they were innocents who were sacrificed in a game of war. That told him that the Fire Nation was wrong to do the horrible things that they were doing in the Earth Kingdom; that progress meant nothing if it was built on the blood and bones of innocents. That voice was so strong, that he couldn't help but grab the sides of his face and shout out in anger._

_"Shut up! Shut up!" he called out to it, "You are weak!" he called the voice, angry that he would dare consider its suggestions, knowing that part of him had got him burnt, it had led to his banishment, it had led to the very situation in which he lay in his bed drunk and delirious._

_Ignoring the voice he rolled over, trying to think of something else for a change; he tried to think of when he was happy, when he felt like he had a life. He thought to his mother, he warm embrace, her love and care; things that he had lost and he knew he couldn't replace. Azula's snide but genuine compliments and his uncle's wisdoms and care couldn't replace his mother's love. Not even regaining his honour could give him that; Zuko momentarily considered why he even bothering to look for the Avatar in that case. He couldn't get what he wanted from his father, so he considered if he could ever find it; he imagined that if he ran away with his uncle, found a new home and a new life, maybe it could fill the gap he felt. But he remembered the words his mother had told him the night she had left, and they ran drew to that day._

_"Never forget who you are." he mumbled under his breath._

_The little Prince who had received the dagger that was always on his belt was not the same boy as him; the boy who was told to never give up without a fight hadn't ever fought a day in his life, and he was stupid to think that any bullying from Azula would compare to the suffering he had felt by the time he lay in that bed drunk. He wasn't the Prince his mother had left that night, but he knew that he ought to be something that she would still love and care for; he knew she would hate to see him like his was- a drunken fool, trying to fight away the anger and sadness that was biting at him like a disease._

_"Prince Zuko, I've got some water." his uncle's voice returned, Zuko glancing his way with hope; maybe some water might drive his mind away from the unusual and confusing thoughts he was feeling; his uncle looked at his face with interest as he lowered himself down to hand him the water, "Nephew, what's wrong?"_

_He took the water in his hand and sipped from the liquid, his mind still considering what he had been thinking about, how far astray he had led himself, from who and what he had always wanted to be; there was only one thing he could think of as he drunk down the last of the water, throwing the cup away across the room in a fit of frustration._

_"I am wrong."_

* * *

The Fire Nation's enemy was nearly in his grasp- he had evaded their forces for a hundred years, but the last airbender's time was up; Zhao could almost hear the cheering ovation he would receive in the capital from the capital, the titles and glorious recognition he would be granted in due course from the Fire Lord himself. He instinctively felt his eye-patch in thought of what his victory would mean; that he could find reprieve from his dishonour. The Prince would finally have no other option but to resign to his treachery; to have the Crown Princess be forced to hunt down her brother, against her own wishes. The idea of what his actions would bring brought a smile to his face; the Avatar would be his, and with it, Prince Zuko would finally be destroyed- he did not need to kill him to end him. He stood on the bridge of his battleship, glancing out with his spyglass to note the movements of the Avatar's sky bison, which they had been tracking ever since it left the Earth Kingdom's shores and moved toward the Fire Nation itself; he knew the Avatar ought to be up to something, as he would be an utter moron to fly straight into the Fire Nation without reason.

"The Avatar is going into the Fire Nation, why?" he mumbled to himself; dropping the spyglass he turned back to face the helmsman who stood behind him in the bridge, patiently awaiting his command, "Set a course following the sky-bison; we can't lose his trail now."

"Of course, sir. Should we increase our speed?" he asked the Admiral, who shook his head before glancing back in the direction where he knew the Avatar to be heading.

"There is a chance that the Avatar might be looking for something. If he sees us right behind, he may simply fly his beast in another direction and we could lose his trail." he explained, "We keep our current pace, and with any time we will find where the last airbender is going."

The helmsman turned back into the bridge of the ship, leaving him alone on the balcony bar his personal guards; gripping the metal railing, Zhao looked back forward onto the water, considering the Avatar's plans; he knew that the last airbender would likely attempt to face Fire Lord Ozai, but he was just a boy who only knew airbending- there was no chance that he would try and fight him now. He knew there must be other reasons, but as he currently was simply following him through the Mo Ce Sea toward the homeland, there was a multitude of possibilities; seeking out a firebending master, looking for a spiritual site, even attempting to throw off Fire Nation forces looking for him. The Admiral was unsure to what going into the Fire Nation would achieve for the Avatar but more attention; he knew that the chances of him being captured were reasonably high if he was as idle and stupid acting as he was to believe. Idling about on Kyoshi Island, freeing Earth Kingdom prisoners from a prison rig, and now his mad dash into the Fire Nation; Zhao was unsure as to what the Avatar was trying to achieve by making these blatant public actions, and he had no interest in understanding his true motive- he needed to be captured, and that was all that mattered.

Suddenly, Zhao was interrupted by one of men approaching, "Admiral, a vessel has been spotted following our own." he told him with a seemingly worried voice; he glanced back at the soldier with some confusion.

"A vessel following ours? Are you sure it just isn't one of the fleet?" he asked him, the soldier shaking his head.

"I could make it out with the spyglass. It's a Royal Barge." he explained, the soldier seemingly understanding exactly what that meant.

"Hmph- so the Princess is following us." he commented, his brow furrowing, "Perhaps she wants the Avatar for herself." he admitted, before raising a hand to dismiss the spotter, "We will let the ship approach; we cannot avoid the wishes of her highness." he explained, the spotter bowing at him before leaving the bridge.

"Admiral, will you need your full guard present if the Princess boards?" one of his guards asked him, Zhao snickering under his breath before acknowledging his guard's thoughts.

"Perhaps. A precaution, in case her royal highness decides on a rather brash course of action." he admitted, his guard nodding respectfully at his decision.

"As you wish, sir."

Glancing back toward where he had last seen the Avatar's sky-bison, he pulled out the spyglass and looked through it, trying to make out the creature once again; it was simply a small blotch in the sky, a round white haze, but he knew it was continuing along at the same speed and in the same direction as he has last seen.

"You will be mine, Avatar."

* * *

Walking across the south-western Earth Kingdom took Suki longer than she had originally thought it would; she and her warriors had a lot of work to do, even if it was ad hoc and not overly helpful in the war effort. For the past fortnight they had been helping refugees take passage away from Fire Nation occupied territories, something that seemed to be all too normal; the idea disturbed her that the Earth Kingdom's people could simply be dispossessed, murdered and sent to wander their country in hope of a new home. She had heard that most of the refugees were heading to Ba Sing Se, the impenetrable city, which had stood against the Fire Nation despite the onslaught of a hundred years of war; Suki didn't like what she had heard about the city itself, supposedly controlled as a police state that denied the existence of the war entirely. Leading her girls and one Blue Spirit along another long winding road, she sighed with frustration; they had been walking ever since they got off from their short boat journey, and by that time she had begun to hate walking. She grumbled at the thought that she and the warriors would continue walking through the Earth Kingdom, helping those as best they could, even if she had blisters non-stop for the next few months.

Behind her she heard a groan of frustration, "How much further do we have to walk?" Esumi asked her, the head warrior glancing back at her with a sigh.

"We're not too far from the next village." she assured her, "We can resupply there and find somewhere to camp." she explained, the warriors behind her glancing around at each other with relief.

She glanced back at the masked Zuko, who had remained for the most part silent as they had trekked down the road; he wasn't complaining, but he didn't seem to have much to say. Her other warriors weren't in much better moods, but they were still a little talkative; she thought that maybe the Prince had become frustrated with his new regime. She knew already that he didn't like having to do the chores he had on Kyoshi Island, but he had taken them on without much complaints; but walking across the Earth Kingdom was something else entirely. They had asked about his uncle as they had gone from village to village, but the only information they could find was actually stories of his sister searching through those villagers a few weeks prior doing the exact same thing; she knew that he really wanted to find his uncle, and seeing how he spoke about him, Suki could understand why.

"Are you okay, your highness?" she asked him with a little mocking title, the Blue Spirit moving his head in a motion that she assumed was him rolling his eyes.

"I'm fine." he grumbled, the annoyance audible in his voice, "I'd prefer to be doing other things than this, that's all." he answered her question, the head warrior nodding, a snicker audible behind her.

Amari raised a hand, "Would you prefer to be fighting?" she asked him, the Prince shaking his head.

"No- I'd prefer to be..." he begun to speak, before falling silent, as if he had forgotten what he was going to say.

"Prefer to be what?" Nakata asked him, leaning closer with suspicion.

"Nevermind." he grumbled, increasing his pace to walk up beside Suki, who stood at the very front of the group, leading them along the road, which was less of road and more of a wide dirt track.

"Someone's a little angry." she jested to him, who remained silent as he continued to walk along, Suki actually struggling to keep up pace with his hasty strides; she guessed that he really wanted to avoid the question, "Okay, you don't have to answer." she conceded, the Prince looking at her momentarily before turning back to face the path.

As they continued walking forward along the road, Suki could make out unusual thumping noises; unusual in the regard that she didn't usually expect to hear echoed thumping in the middle of nowhere.

Sawa stepped forward and narrowed her eyes, "What is that sound?"

Nakata nodded along and drew out a fan, "I was thinking the very same thing."

She raised an arm to indicate the group to stop, before turning back to face her girls, "There might be something going on nearby. And I-" she begun to explain, being cut off by a far more audible banging noise, that sounded almost like thunder despite the fact there was no stormclouds hanging overhead.

Zuko glanced her way, "It's probably the Fire Nation."

Amari smirked and patted him on the shoulder as she stepped forward, "I was thinking the same thing, ash-maker." before she turned to face Suki, "Are we going to check this out, boss?"

She glanced around their surroundings, noting that the path they were walking along was surrounded by trees and not much else; looking up above the trees, she could make out what looked to be smoke-stacks relatively nearby.

"Maybe it's the village. You never know, they could be setting off fireworks." she admitted, Amari furrowing a brow at her.  
"Who sets off fireworks in the middle of the day?" she questioned, side-eyeing Zuko, who raised his hands defensively.

"Hey, the Fire Nation doesn't do that." he acknowledged, "But they are invading the Earth Kingdom." he told them, glancing back toward where they heard the sounds.

"Is it time to Blue Spirit up?" Nakata questioned him, garnering a snicker from her fellow warriors. He sighed with annoyance at her rather jesting question, "Can't you just call it a sneak attack?" he asked her, who grinned back at him.

"But you need a catchphrase, don't you?" she asked him, to which he simply turned around and started walking along the path once more.

He glanced back at the group and indicated down the path, "Well, are we going to check this out, or not?"

Suki's eyes widened, noting that they had all come to a complete halt, "Of course. We are here to help people, after all."  
The group picked up haste as they begun to race toward the sounds that were becoming more audible as they followed down the path; finally they made sight of the outskirts

of an Earth Kingdom village, which was a sight to behold. The village's smokestacks weren't coming from chimneys, but rather their houses being set alight, burning like a set of candles; her warriors looked aghast, and even Zuko was taken back by the sight.

"Is this what the Fire Nation does to all villages?" Amari accusingly asked him, the Prince shaking his head, his facial expressions still masked by his rather intimidating Blue Spirit mask.

"No. This is a raid. And I've got some ideas as to who would be attacking a random Earth Kingdom village." he admitted, Suki glancing his way with narrowed eyes.

"Who?" she simply asked, the anger in voice audible.

"The Rough Rhinos." he acknowledged, the head warrior drawing out her fans.

"You're not going to have a problem saving another Earth Kingdom village, are you, Zuko?" she clarified, the Prince drawing out the two katana he bore on his back, the grin of his mask seeming rather inaccurate for the emotion he showed in his actions.

"We're not here to let innocents die, are we?" he asked her rhetorically before stepping forward toward the village, where a number of villagers were running their way fearfully.

"Help us! Please!" one of the villagers cried out, another pointing back to the village.

"They killed all the guards! Please you've got to help us!" the villager pleaded, Suki stepping forward with a face of determination.

"We will stop these evil deeds." she assured them, "Stay behind us!" she called out to them, the villagers continuing to race their way as the attackers could be seen in the distance before them; she glanced at Zuko who stood beside her in form, "So, are you going to do your spirit magic?" she asked him, the Prince swinging one of his blades around before indicating out to their opponents.

"If that's what you want to call it, then yes."

* * *

Sokka was both angry and relieved at the same time; Aang had finally got into the Fire Temple sanctuary, and with it, he could counsel with Avatar Roku and find out what he needed to know. The Water Tribe teen just hoped whatever message his predecessor had to tell Aang would be worth them being captured by the Fire Nation; more accurately, being captured by a group of elderly men. He didn't want to be thrown in a Fire Nation prison by a bunch of old guys; their bending was unexpectedly good, and he, Katara and Shyu couldn't fight them all off, leaving them chained to a pole. He was only relieved by the observation that his enemies were far more aggravated than he was by the whole situation.

"Shyu! Why did you betray us?!" the head sage shouted at his fellow sage, who looked back with a determined face, "It was once our duty to serve the Avatar. It is still our duty."

"Do you know what you have done?" the head sage asked him, his tone fearful, "The Fire Lord will have us called traitors for your actions!"

Katara smugly chuckled at the head sage's words, "It's better to be a traitor than a monster."

The head sage looked to her with contempt, "You speak of things you don't understand, girl." he chided her, Sokka smirking at his sister's show of confidence.

"Yeah, what are you going to do? Just stand by while the Fire Nation destroys the world?" he accusingly asked them, the sages looking amongst themselves momentarily before the head sage addressed him.

"We serve the Fire Lord and our nation. This is our duty." he simply told them, before glancing to Shyu, "Thanks to you we can't even open the door. I hope you're happy with what you've done, traitor." he frowned at the chained up sage, who shook his head.

"This is what had to be done; it was the only way."

"What a moving and heartfelt performance. I'm certain the Fire Lord will understand when you explain why you betrayed him." a voice called out to the sages, Sokka recognising it as belonging to the side-burns guy that attacked Kyoshi Island, who looked on that them smugly, accompanied by a number of firebending guards.

The Fire Sages bowed and the head sage addressed him, "Admiral Zhao."

"The Avatar is already in there, is he?" he asked the sages, who nodded with grim faces.

"Yes, but the doors are sealed, sir." the head sage explained with a face of defeat, the Admiral scoffing at his comments.

"Sooner or later he has to come out." he simply told them, Sokka scoffing at his overconfidence.

"And Aang will kick you butt. Again." he told him with a humoured tone, his sister side-eyeing him for his rather aggravating words.

"Watch your tongue, savage. You'd best remain quiet- this will be over quickly." he chided the Water Tribe warrior, who shrugged his shoulders; Katara glanced at Zhao as well, looking at him with a face of determination

"He's the Avatar. I'm sure he'll find a way."

The Admiral chuckled under his breath, "I seriously doubt that."

Suddenly a silhouette raced across his field of view, the Water Tribe warrior glancing around see what he had just seen; a few moments later his question was answered as a figure quickly knocked Zhao to the ground before attacking the guards in a display of hand-to-hand fighting that would put the Kyoshi Warriors to shame. A few moments later, the figure jumped back toward the three chained prisoners, quickly knocking out the Fire Sages, who stood little chance against the figures agile strikes; before he could do anything, Sokka felt the chains loosen around his waist a flash of light passed. Looking down the chains thumped to the ground, the warrior looking up to the figure that had just freed them; their face was obscured by black fabric, but their eyes were still visible, shining a bright gold. Another firebender had just intervened to save the Avatar; his doubts about the evilness of the Fire Nation had already been tested with the assistance of Zuko and meeting Iroh. This stranger had just saved them from the wrath of an overconfident bastard with stupid looking side-burns.

Grabbing his boomerang from the floor, he glanced to Shyu and Katara momentarily, who were both as shocked as he was by the sudden intervention, joining the figure in fighting Admiral Zhao's guards, which were still putting up quite the fight. Even if they were outnumbered, their new ally seemed to be more than capable of handling them, snuffing out their fire blasts with ease. He threw his boomerang at a guard, the weapon striking the soldier in the head before returning to his grasp; then he found himself back to back with their disguised saviour, the two of them warding off the firebenders with their bare hands. His sister took advantage of the guards focus on the two of them to jump on one of the guards, using their disorientation to make them spit flames out into the air, causing quite the spectacle and forcing a number of the guards to focus on her. Shyu provided his assistance, throwing fireballs to distract the guards while Sokka and the assailant handled them more personally; within a few moments they had actually beaten back of a number of the guards, but he knew well enough that they were outnumbered. Zhao had returned to his feet by this point and threw a fireball right at Sokka, which the assailant prevented hitting the Water Tribe warrior by throwing him out of the way, leaving him lying on the ground, narrowly avoiding having his head roasted. He and Katara stepped back from the fight, realising how capable the assailant was, having helped a little to ward the guards away from the doors, leaving Aang along to try and communicate with his predecessor. Before they could even try and figure out what to do next, the doors suddenly opened, a bright white light blinding thier field of view, the two of them covering them faces from the glare, only glancing toward the opened doorway once more once the light had faded, revealing two glowing white eyes.

"No! Aang!" his sister called out in terror, before Zhao and his men fired at the young airbender's silhouette.

The fire blasts all merged into a wall of flames, as if they were being deflected away from Aang, before they were dispersed into thin air, revealing that it wasn't Aang's eyes they were seeing at all- it was Avatar Roku, as if he had returned from the dead to stand before them. At that moment he heard the assailant speak for the first time, their voice unexpectedly aggressive and feminine.

"The Avatar."

* * *

The Blue Spirit was a mischievous individual that didn't follow the rules of the Fire Nation; Prince Zuko was the banished and disgraced traitor that had broken his duties to the Fire Nation. He didn't ever intend to become the Blue Spirit, not really, but Zuko realised as he was approaching to fight the Rough Rhinos, that they were one and the same; they were fighting for what was right, even if he didn't want to admit it aloud. He believed in the superiority of the Fire Nation, just as any other patriotic citizen would, but that didn't mean that he was forced to blindly believe that everything they did was right, or even justified. He couldn't see why any man would ever go around and destroy others homes for a living; he had once heard that people did things because it was all they could, but he knew that there had to be some other path. Endless and fruitless slaughter didn't suddenly become not slaughter when it was declared to be spreading the prosperity and greatness of the Fire Nation.

"The Blue Spirit... I thought you were a myth." their leader called out to him, noting his appearance before them; he couldn't remember the leader's name, although he had heard it mentioned a few times in the past- it didn't matter who he was, what mattered was what he was doing.

He drew out his sword, and behind him he could hear the footsteps of the Kyoshi Warriors following behind, "He's no myth." he could hear Suki declare, making him smirk underneath his mask.

The leader scoffed at the sight of their force, "You better start running, or things are going to get ugly."

"I was thinking the same thing." Suki admitted, the sound of fans being opened audible behind him, the metallic noise assuring Zuko that they were ready to fight.

The Rough Rhinos attacked first, their archer firing straight at the Prince, who saw the attack coming, sidestepping it before approaching their leader, who bent a fire blast at him; he smirked, spinning his katana around to disperse the flames, the sparks spitting on the ground beside him. He raced forward to attack the leader, but was stopped by an explosive being throw right below his feet, forcing Zuko to jump out of the way; the explosion threw him off his feet, and by the time he had returned to a formidable stance, one of the soldiers, bearing a guan dao spear, thrust his weapon right at him; he ducked under the weapon before cutting off its blade. He was joined by Amari and Nakata, who were able to strike the man off of his komodo rhino. The bomb thrower threw another of his bombs in their direction, forcing Zuko to throw Nakata out of the way to avoid getting in the range of the explosive; they were thrown to the ground and surrounded by the leader and the archer, who were ready to strike them both. Suddenly the archer was thrown off his komodo rhino, the Prince glancing back to see Suki having thrown a fan at his head before she quickly raced to confront the Rough Rhino's leader, who had become infuriated by the resistance they were making.

"You're a bunch of children!" he declared, firing a powerful beam at the head warrior, who rolled out of the way; the distraction gave Zuko the opportunity to jump and tackle the leader off of his mount, throwing him to the ground.

Now lying in the dirt with the leader, he readied his blades once more, the weapons being held off by his opponent's conserved use of firebending; he sent a fire ball directly at Zuko's head, knocking him to the ground as he was too close to dodge. Realising that he didn't have any weapons at hand, he simply glanced up as the leader filled a hand with flames.

"You're less scary than I expected." he admitted with a chuckle before sending a beam of flames at Zuko, which he held off by grabbing his opponent's hand, completely nullifying the attack; he looked aghast at his power, before muttering, "Who are-" before he punched in the head by Nakata, knocked out in an instance.

"Thanks." he mumbled quietly to the Kyoshi Warrior, who smirked at him, offering out a hand to help him up.

Suki stood beside him, handing him his katana back, the Prince nodding at her before reading his weapons again, noting that there were still a fair number of the Rough Rhinos to defeat; he raced forward toward the archer, who drew his bow to strike them, his attack dodged by Zuko before he knocked his weapon out of hand. The archer grimaced at him as he raised his fists in an attempt to defend himself, but was quickly knocked off of his feet by the agile swordsman with a few swipes. Another of the Rough Rhinos spun a chain at him, grabbing his swords in a tangling of chains; as his opponent pulled on the swords, Zuko smirked and tactfully let go of the weapons as his opponent tugged harshly, the swords flinging back at him, whipping himself with his own chains. With another distracted, he paid more attention to the rather more dangerous enemy who bore a belt of bombs; a bomb was thrown at him, but Zuko realised that it didn't explode on contact and quickly picked it up, lobbing it at the bomb-thrower. His opponent shouted out fearfully as the bomb exploded, scaring his mount, which threw him right off. Glancing around, he noted that all of their enemies had been dealt with, and the leader was grumbling audibly, coming back to consciousness; Suki grabbed the leader by his collar, flipping him over onto his back to confront him.

"You made a big mistake." she chided him, "Things did get ugly, after all." she chuckled at him, Zuko approaching to glance down at the injured enemy, reminding himself that he was dealing with his fellow country-men.

"What do we do with them?" Suki asked Zuko, who sighed with annoyance, not wanting to have to personally deal with such a morally ambiguous topic; part of him wanted to have the men before him executed for their crimes, but he knew that there was probably people in the Earth Kingdom that did the exact same thing.

"They need to be reminded." he told her, deepening his voice in case the leader was to recognise it.

"Of what?" she asked him, although he was sure her question was rhetorical.

"That actions have consequences." he simply uttered, before glancing down at the leader before him, "You will never do this again." he told him, as if it was an order; Zuko knew that he wasn't Fire Lord, but when he became Prince again he was sure he wanted to try and serve his nation.

"Wh-what? You can't order me." he grumbled at the Prince, who leaned in closer, unnerved by his dismissal.

"Or I will find you and your friends, and you will learn what suffering means." he simply told them, knowing that if he warned them, they would know what would come after them if they tried to kill innocents needlessly again.

He kicked the leader in the head, knocking him out cold before walking back toward the front of the village, where the scared inhabitants would await them in their victory; Suki grabbed his shoulder, her hand tensing to stop him.

"You did the right thing, Zuko." she assured him, making him chuckle under his breath before turning to face her, drawing off the Blue Spirit mask so they could look face to face, feeling that he knew that what he had done was right.

"I remembered who I was."

* * *

Zhao looked at the captured Fire Sages, who trembled with fear in his presence, and rightfully so- he was angry; he was going to capture the Avatar, and finally regain some respect in the eyes of the Fire Lord. His burning by Zuko was a disgrace that he knew would be hard to recover from, even if he had been elevated to the title of Admiral; it made no difference if the Fire Lord saw function and use of Zhao, because he could simply be blamed for the failures of the navy itself if there was to be a great defeat under Zhao's command. He was for all intents and purposes a scapegoat for the Fire Navy, and he didn't like being so, not one bit.

Glancing back up to the fleeing sky-bison, he clenched his fist, turning back to face his prisoners, "No Avatar! All I have his five traitors!"

The head sage's eyes opened wide, "But Admiral, only Shyu helped the Avatar."

He glared at him fury, "Save your stories for the Fire Lord. As far as I'm concerned, you are all guilty! Take them to the prison hold!" he ordered his men, who picked up the sages one by one and led them into the brig; he was relieved by the thought that he wouldn't be the scapegoat for the Avatar's escape, not that day, at least.

He glanced to the side of his ship, noting the Princess's Royal Barge had approached and docked nearby, a small delegation approaching on a steamer.

"Of course she's coming to grill me." he noted the obviousness of the situation; he had no doubts that the masked assailant that prevented his men from handelling the Avatar effectively was the Princess herself, but he technically had no proof, and as such he would be forced to remain silent.

The steamer docked around by the back of his vessel, and Zhao was followed by his guards as he walked around the deck toward the stern, glancing out with contempt as he awaited the Princess; a few moments after the boarding ramp was placed down, the Royal Guards walked out of the vessel, before they revealed the Princess behind them, who looked rather dissatisfied as she approached him.

"Your highness, what brings you to my ship today?" he asked her, who scoffed at his question; she knew that he knew, it seemed obvious enough.

"Cut the formalities. You broke your word, Zhao." she narrowed her eyes at him; the Admiral scoffed at her.

"I was simply following the trail of an enemy of the Fire Nation, to ensure our national security; that is protocol, is it not?" he asked her, Azula raising a hand to dismiss his comments.

"Protocol is overruled by my direct orders." she told him, stepping closer, his guards tensing as she neared, "Do you know what I ought to do to you, Admiral?" she asked him, to which he remained silent, letting her answer her own question, "I should have sunk your ship and let you all burn alive in that volcanic eruption." she told him, "Treachery against the Fire Nation is one thing, treachery against me, that is another."

His eyes widened, realising he couldn't say much but the obvious, "I saw what you did. Is that not treachery all the same?" he asked her, the Princess chuckling at his suggestion.

"You saw nothing." she simply told him before setting her hand alight with blue flames, "Now, I have a suggestion for you Zhao. If you don't continue your pointless and fatalistic quest for the Avatar, you might find that he would try and learn the elements. Do you know where the Avatar has to go to learn waterbending?" she rhetorically asked him, knowing that he already knew the answer.

"T-the North-" he mumbled, before his eyes widened, "You know about my request?" he asked, referencing the requests he had made to both Fire Lord Ozai and Azulon to follow his idea for an attack on the North Pole, something that hadn't been considered in earnest for decades.

"I know everything, Admiral. Haven't you figured that out yet?" she smirked at him, before turning around to return to her steamer; glancing back his way with a curt smirk, she asked him, "Do we have an understanding?"

He sighed with a tone of defeat, "Yes, I think we do."

If there was one thing that he wanted more than to capture the Avatar and destroy Prince Zuko, it was to conquer the Northern Water Tribe and finally put an end to waterbending; the savages would rue the day he had failed to capture the Avatar, because now he knew he had a path to finally achieving his ultimate victory.


	12. Not Alone

_Pushing his hand forward, it spat flames out, directing a beam of flames straight in front of him; Zuko breathed in and out, before spinning his form around and making the same attack with a kick. He then moved into replicating a set he had seen Azula do when they were children, although he had not learnt it himself; his uncle's words echoed in his mind, telling him that he must master his basics before doing more advanced sets. He refused to listen, knowing that he would need to be prepared to defeat the Avatar, and perhaps one day, destroy his rival Zhao, who still remained ever so confident in his abilities. He had heard at a port that he had been promoted to Commander not too long ago, and the thought of it drove him into his relentless training. He had been spending all morning throwing kicks and punches, pushing himself to his limits, sending flames out as strong and as far as he could. He followed the set as he remembered it, only vaguely at the time, knowing that he hadn't seen the moves in person for years; he ended the set with a spinning kick that sent out a narrow wave of flames, cutting through the air just like his dao would. Dropping his leg down, he took a moment to catch his breath, remembering to recollect his energies before moving to another set, sending volleys of fireballs in every direction with speed, as if he was punching at a group of enemies surrounding him. He knew his training was reminding him of an all-important truth; he had to be prepared for anything, especially when it came to someone as powerful and important as the Avatar, the master of the four elements._

_"That was quite impressive, Prince Zuko." he heard his uncle's familiar gravelly voice compliment him, who huffing out fire through his mouth before turning to face his uncle._

_"Uncle. I can't just sit around while we scour the world for the Avatar; I need to improve my bending." he explained, his uncle nodding._

_"I understand, nephew, but you must remain grounded in your strengths. There is no point trying to learn fancy sets if you can't use them effectively." he advised, the Prince rolling his eyes at his words._

_"I need to learn the advanced sets, Uncle. How else can I defeat him?" he asked his uncle rhetorically._

_"There is other ways to improve your bending, nephew. An understanding of the other elements and how they utilise the elements is a good way to improve your understanding of your own element." he explained, the Prince furrowing a brow with interest._

_"But Uncle, how can we learn from the other elements? They are all as different as each other." he admitted, thinking back to his studies about the elements in preparing to defeat the Avatar; after all no one had seen or fought an airbender in a hundred years._

_"Firebending relies of power, breath and offense." he acknowledged, "But nephew, is direct offense always the easiest way to win a fight?"_

_"No. I don't think so. Trickery and other dishonourable things are." he admitted, his uncle shaking his head._

_"I didn't mean it like that, Prince Zuko. You can use your enemies strengths against them, like a waterbender does, or you can hold your ground and wait for the right moment, like an earthbender." he gave examples, the Prince raising a brow at him._

_"So you're saying I need to learn how to think like my enemies to defeat them?" he asked, his uncle's eyes widening for a moment before he chuckled._

_"I guess that's a way of thinking about it." he admitted, before crossing his arms, "How about you show me how you can use a different mindset to bend?" he asked his nephew, who raised a brow._

_"What, so you want me to try and 'waterbend' fire?" he asked, Iroh shaking his head._

_"No, follow their mindset. Do not waste your own strength, but use your opponent's power as your own weapon." he explained, his eyes widening with interest._

_"Hmm... I think I understand, Uncle." he acknowledged, making his uncle chuckle before quickly taking a firebending stance._

_"Good, now let's test that understanding." he told him, sending a volley of fireballs at Zuko, who was forced to quickly take form and try and dodge his attacks._

_He thought in his head that he was acting like a coward for avoiding his uncle's strikes, but he knew that there must be some merit behind his words; he needed to think about fighting differently to win. As his uncle then sent a more powerful blast of fire toward Zuko, he stood his ground, pushing his arms out, ready to quite literally catch his uncle's flames; as the fire blast approached him, he grasped his uncle's attack with his bending, tearing it in half with his hands, the flames falling behind him before he swung his arms back around, throwing the fire back toward his uncle. Iroh dispersed the redirected attack and smirked at his handiwork, seemingly proud of his rather tact use of fire._

_"Turning your defence into offense. A commendable strategy, Prince Zuko." he cheered him on, Zuko smiling back at his uncle._

_"Let's try something else. Maybe this will unlock the greatest firebending technique ever." he thought aloud, his uncle chuckling at him._

_"Best not get too cocky, nephew. You wouldn't want to be overconfident in your abilities when facing the Avatar, would you?" he questioned him, who nodded confidently back at him; if there was one thing he never wanted to be, it was the overly proud and confident moron that was Zhao._

_"Of course, Uncle. I still have much to learn." he conceded._

_"Now, do you know how to dodge?" Iroh asked him, the Prince sighing with annoyance, thinking that his uncle wanted him to try the classic airbending tactic of evasion._

_"I know how to dodge." he admitted, thinking to the training he had done with Master Piandao as a young boy; he was already understanding of that tactic, although he personally despised the idea of being a coward on the field._

_"Good. It will be handy when earthbenders throw massive rocks at you." his uncle jested, Zuko rolling his eyes at the rather stupendous image he had in his mind._

_"Like that's going to happen." he dismissed his claim, the retired general shaking his head with disapproval._

_"You said it yourself, nephew; you have to be prepared for anything."_

* * *

"How far exactly are we going to walk?"

Zuko rolled his eyes at Sawa's words, knowing that he truly didn't want to hear the answer to that question; the Earth Kingdom was immense, and he understood well enough 'helping these people find safety' meant walking all the way to Ba Sing Se, or at the very least taking them to safer Earth Kingdom territories.

Esumi's voice sounded clearly strained as she formulated an answer, "Ah- that's a great question, Sawa. A great question." she noted, side-eyeing their leader, who looked just as tired from their trek.

Suki placed a hand on the shoulder of her fellow warrior, looking sympathetic to her plight of marching across the Earth Kingdom, "These refugees need our help. However far we go, I'm sure it will be worth it in the end."

The Rough Rhino's attack had been stopped, and in the place of a massacre the Kyoshi Warriors had a rather tedious task; taking the people of the village to safety from their poor and war-torn part of the country to another marginally better part of the country. It was all the same in Zuko's eyes in the end; their whole country was poor, shit and full of people that would probably want to kill him if they actually knew who he was. A few days more and he might throw himself into the arms of the first bounty hunter he could find so he could be thrown in prison; on second thought, he admitted to himself that he would rather walk around a vagrant than be in a Fire Nation prison- they were not the same as being locked in a room on Kyoshi Island, he knew that for sure.

The group of refugees they were protecting only number in the dozens, but with their village's guards slaughtered by the Rough Rhinos, they wouldn't find much help in their numbers; Zuko knew that they ought to protect the people, knowing that they were innocent and didn't deserve to be thrown out of their lands. He didn't like the fact that his own people were doing the things that were leading to him having to walk across the Earth Kingdom; momentarily he thought of his father's place in the scheme of things, and immediately banished those thoughts to the back of his mind- he wasn't going to think about things that would only further draw him away from his goals. The Avatar was the only way he could return home, he knew that to be certain; to his luck, the last airbender had returned, and he was only a child- Zhao was an obstacle, but he knew once he had figured out a plan, not even the spiteful Admiral could stand in his way. He thought to his sister, who he knew had purposefully spared him from imprisonment, and he knew that she would want him to continue his quest; he had to redeem his honour, something she obviously held respect for. She was lying, mean-spirited and quite hateful, but he knew that she would not stop him from achieving his destiny; more than that, she would likely help him if she had the opportunity. He hadn't heard much about Zhao, his sister, or anything to do with the Avatar; he knew for certain that he hadn't been captured by the Fire Nation yet, because that would be the news of the century, the greatest victory his father could ever find.

"Zuko, you look like you're half-asleep." Suki admitted, the Prince snapping out of his chain of thought, glancing back her way.

"Um- I'm not. I'm just thinking." he admitted, to which she let out of a snicker.

"Well there's not much else to do, is there?" she rhetorically asked him, Zuko nodding along with agreement.

"That is true. Do you know how far the next village is?" he asked her, having the same question as Sawa on his mind.

"Hmph- hopefully we'll get there before nightfall. We'll need to make camp, and I'd prefer to do so somewhere the villagers can get fed."

"Yes, we need food." he acknowledged, before he furrowed a brow, thinking about how much money they would be spending to feed the refugees, "Maybe we ought to go hunting or something- it'd be easier to feed them without using all the money we have." he thought aloud, the head warrior smirking with agreement.

"That's not a bad idea. We have some trapping equipment actually, although we were expecting to use it against Fire Nation soldiers, not our dinner." she admitted with a chuckle.

"Hunting?" Amari piped up, stepping up to get closer to the pair, "Can we hit cat-deer with our fans? I'm sure that will work." she smirked, the two of them looking back with confusion.

Zuko side-eyed Suki with slight concern, "Would that work?"

The head warrior sighed before glancing at her subordinate with slight annoyance, "No it wouldn't. Amari, don't tell me you were trying that kind of stuff back home." she considered with a tone of disbelief, the warrior shrugging her concerns her away.

"Of course not, I'm an elite warrior. I don't try and hit animals with my prized weapons."

"Don't most people use a bow and arrow?" he asked them, the warriors both nodding.

"Yes, but we're warriors, not hunters." Suki clarified, before she raised a finger to her chin, "But now that you mention it, archery is one skill that we ought to add to our arsenal." she admitted, Zuko raising a brow at her.

"Well, good luck with that. I'm sure you'll find ample time to train while we're crossing this spirit-foresaken country." he sighed with annoyance, remembering the fact that they would be continuing their trek for quite some time.

"Don't feel too bad. You could be imprisoned by the Fire Nation." Suki advised, to which he gave her a glare of contempt; it was almost as if she could read his mind, much to the banished prince's chagrin.

"At this rate, I probably will be."

* * *

"What did you just say?"

Crown Princess Azula was in a state of disbelief, and she needed to make sure that she wasn't mishearing the words of the message being read out before her.

"It reads: his majesty, Fire Lord Ozai, has requested that you no longer make interventions in the duties and processes of the Fire Nation military unless absolutely necessary." her guard reiterated, the Princess's eyes narrowing at him before raising a hand to indicate him out of her tent.

"Leave." she simply directed, her loyal Royal Guard making no attempts to resist, bowing before leaving her tent with haste; she appreciated the fact that her men feared her enough to follow her commands without question.

She glanced over the official scroll once more and rolled her eyes; it seemed that her father had caught word of her behaviour toward Zhao, although she was unsure if he knew about her sneaking in to stop the Admiral from capturing the Avatar. It wasn't that she didn't want to take the Avatar down; if it weren't for her brother's banishment she would have captured the last airbender herself- but her duty to her brother, to ensure that he had the opportunity to redeem himself. Despite their antagonistic childhood, she didn't despise her brother completely- he did have some admirable qualities; she knew that he would stop at nothing to regain his honour, and perhaps one day he might return the favour for her assistance in helping him return to his rightful place. She remembered the analogy of the Pai Sho table and smirked in thought; the world was her playing board, and her pieces, they were anyone who she could hold power over- Zuko would be the centre piece of her game, and he would help her finally attain her victory. There were many obstacles, but she knew a game wasn't fun without any; Zhao, her uncle, the Avatar, even her own father, all standing in her way toward utter domination. She would quite literally rule the world, and she wouldn't even need much more than her brother alone to achieve it. She breathed in and out, expelling thoughts from her mind; her father's actions, no matter how directly threatening, would not stop her- she would need a more indirect method to get rid of Zhao and ensure that the Avatar fell into her brother's hands.

"Thank you, father." she mumbled under her breath, smirking in thought of what he might think of what she planned to do

The invasion of the North Pole was likely not to come to fruition for months, but she knew that when it did, she would have the path she desired to finally destroy the hubris of Admiral Zhao; his house of cards would majestically tumble down, and she would bask in the glory of it. Stepping out of her tent, she glanced around at her small campsite that was adjoined to her tank-train; she and her Royal Guards had been travelling overland into the Earth Kingdom- after her ordeal at the Fire Temple, she knew she ought to get into motion in finding her brother and uncle, and setting out exactly how to make sure that they would evade her just long enough to set Zuko up for his redemption. She knew they could need months until the Avatar was close enough to be a reasonable target for her brother, and thus she needed to make the time to do so.

"Guards. What news do we have of sightings of my brother and uncle?" she asked her men, who were all dealing with a number of messages sent from a number of Fire Nation military groups- the logistics of finding the two fugitives was a task in and of itself; after letting her brother slip away from that Earth Kingdom port-town, she had assumed he was heading northward, likely to try and find their uncle, although she was still unsure as to where he was.

"Your highness, I think I have something." one of her guards called out, holding out a thin scroll; he walked over to her and handed it over, the Princess unfurling the text- she smirked at the sight of what was before her.

"Spies in Omashu spotted a man resembling the fugitive General Iroh." she read aloud, "This message is how old again?" she asked.

"About two weeks. But that gives us a general area where he must be, does it not?" he asked her, the Princess nodding, before indicating to the rest of her men.

"Well, that's that then. Pack up your things, we're going to Omashu." she acknowledged, before furrowing a brow, "Were there not invasion plans to attack the city?" she asked, remembering something of the sorts in previous messages that she had read through in trying to narrow down where her brother and uncle might actually be.

"Yes, your highness." one of her guards piped up, "Three divisions are preparing to attack from across the mountains, that's what the most recent intelligence says."

"Well, this makes our job a little easier; we won't need to worry about the Earth Kingdom's forces if they're already distracted by a Fire Nation attack." she admitted before narrowing her eyes at her guards, "Are you all deaf? I said pack everything up." she pointed at her guards, who immediately got to work at dissembling their work stations and moving everything back into the tank-train.

She knew that their mission could be finished in a few days and she could bring her uncle and brother back to father in chains, but Azula understood that wouldn't help her in any way; she knew the Avatar had to be taken down, and her brother had to be the one to do it. First she needed to find a way to capture the master of the elements to begin with; a small smirk came to her face as she thought of the easiest tactic to take down any bender- she knew just the person to complement her own skills.

* * *

Suki couldn't help but smirk with a sense of confidence, standing over their hunted kill; she knelt down beside the dead boar, feeling a slight bit of sympathy for the creature, but she knew that it would feed the refugees well- she had heard one of the villagers was a butcher, much to her convenience, but she would still have to carry the carcass all the way back to the market village where they had set up camp for the night. Glancing out at the sun barely sitting above the horizon, she knew that she and the warriors ought to get back; she glanced over to the sword-wielding Zuko, who had dispersed of his Blue Spirit attire while they were hunting, his face fully uncovered for her to see. He had made the killing blow on the animal, and stood by it cleaning his swords, looking slightly averse after having killed it.

"You don't like hunting?" she asked him with a raised brow.

"I don't like killing." Zuko clarified, his face telling her that he had had an experience in the past to give him reason to say it.

She looked back at him sympathetically, making a small smile, "Fair enough. Want to help carry this thing back to the camp?" she asked him, the Prince sighing with annoyance, probably not wanting a bar of having to complete such boring physical labour.

"Reminds me of something." he noted, acknowledging his chores on Kyoshi Island, making her snicker, before indicating to the boar carcass.

"I'm sure you look back fondly at your time with us." she noted, giving him a little wink before grabbing the fore legs of the animal, Zuko taking the hind legs; glancing back around at Sawa and Esumi, "You two check ahead. You never know when bounty hunters will be coming around for his royal highness."

Looking back to Zuko, she noted that he didn't take the insult well, rolling his eyes as they begun to walk along, carrying the boar between them, "Hmph- I personally don't want to be wearing that mask all day, it gets uncomfortable after a few days." he admitted, making her chuckle at his rather serious description.

"Oh really, well, I'm sure you'll enjoy wearing it again once we head on the road again. You're just lucky that the town we're in is out of the Fire Nation's grasp, otherwise we might need to hide you in a bag." she suggested jestfully, the Prince shaking his head with confusion.

"I don't want to be put in a bag. I'm still a Prince, might I remind you." he clarified with grit teeth, the head warrior shrugging her shoulders as they continued to walk along the path back toward the village, retracing their steps back.

"A banished and outlaw prince." she noted with a chuckle, making him scowl with annoyance, before sighing, knowing that her jest was simply a reflection of the truth.

"You really think they'll even bother to find me? It's not like I'm trying to subvert the Fire Nation." he acknowledged, his words sounding doubtful; he was obviously distraught over his situation, and his rather sour mood over the past few days had made it clear that he didn't want to be stuck as a fugitive forever.

"Well, you did help us fight those Rough Rhino guys, who I might add, were definitely asking for it." she acknowledged, before sighing, "Zuko, I know it's tough doing what you've had to do. But you've done the right thing, and that's what counts, right?" she asked him, hoping for a more positive answer.

"I- uh- yeah." he muttered, before looking to her with a little spark in his eyes,

"I think I did." before his face fell down, "With some things at least." he mumbled, Suki raising a brow at him.

"Some things? Is there another story we need to interrogate out of you?" she questioned him, the Prince shaking his head with disapproval.

"No- I don't want anymore of your damn interrogation, no matter how much tea I get." he narrowed his eyes at her, making her snicker in thought of the absurdness of it, before he continued, his tone more serious than before, "When I fought Zhao, I was betraying my nation, and even if he is one of the worst people I know, it was selfish of me to do it." he admitted to her, her eyes widening, thinking what his words meant.

"Selfish of you to fight and protect Kyoshi Island?" she asked him, the Prince shaking his head, the guilt noticeable in his expression.

"No, I would have done that no matter what, but I could have just handed him the Avatar and stopped his attack then and there." he admitted with a scowl, seemingly angry at himself.

She shrugged her shoulders and looked at him with a determined face, "Well I still think you did the right thing. Don't tell yourself you're wrong because some stupid laws say so."

"The laws of my nation are ones that I take seriously." he argued, the head warrior rolling her eyes, knowing that Zuko had completely missed the point of her encouragement.

"Just take it for what it is Zuko. Were you ever going to let Zhao win and take the Avatar from Kyoshi Island, even if that's in the interests of your nation?" she asked him, the Prince sighing with a lamentation of defeat.

"No. You're right." he acknowledged, Suki chuckling with a smirk.

"Of course I am."

* * *

Opening the doors of a tavern, Iroh glanced around momentarily, checking to note if there was anyone from the Fire Nation present; his presumptions were confirmed when he noted the distinct lack of his fellow countrymen, who he wouldn't expect to be in a town that seemed to be a funnel for refugees heading eastward away from the Fire Nation's occupied territories. He approached the bar that was located near the centre of the large room, smiling at the bartender confidently, knowing that he might need to barter to find himself a room.

"Good evening, I'm looking a place to stay. Do you have any rooms available?" he asked the rather disinterested bartender, who glanced down his form for a few moments, raising a brow with interest.

"You have coin?" he asked the retired general, who chuckled at the suggestion; he had been grateful for the small bag of coins that Bumi had gifted him in his venture searching for his nephew.

"Sure." he nodded, "How much is it for a night here?"

"We're pretty packed at the moment. How much do you have?" he asked the retired general, who grabbed a number of coins out of his pocket, not all that he had, but he needed to show that he could pay; the bartender glanced at his hand and indicated up to the stairs.

"That can pay for two nights bedding, excluding food." he explained, the retired general nodding; he hoped that his tact display of the few coins in his hand had got him a better deal.

"Thank you, you want this much?" he clarified, dropping half of the coins in his hand on the bar, to which the bartender nodded and took the coins.

"Your room is the at the end of the hallway upstairs." he explained, handing Iroh a set of small iron keys.

He smiled back at the man, feeling relieved that he found somewhere to sleep other than a dirty campsite out of town, "I'd just like to get something to eat first." he acknowledged, the bartender pointing to a menu that sat by the doorway- it only had a few items of food on it: rice, egg noodles, and jook.

Turning back to face him he scratched the end of his beard, "Well, I think I'll go for the egg noodles." he admitted, the bartender nodding at his choice.

"That's only five pieces." he acknowledged, Iroh scrambling his hand through his pocket to pull out the requested money, handing it over before the bartender tilted his head to the side, toward the various tables and seats that lay in the tavern, most of the already filled with a number of people sitting and eating.

He nodded at the bartender before walking over to one of the tables where he could find a spot to sit, dropping himself down to find his behind comforted after a long days walk; he wasn't used to all the walking, but he was sure that he would get a fine rest in a proper bed. His journey across the Earth Kingdom had taken him a number of weeks, and with the help of his friend King Bumi he safely escaped the areas under Fire Nation occupation and was able to search the country for his nephew relatively unmolested. The last news he had heard of Zuko was from about two weeks prior, mentioning him as helping the Avatar, something that humoured Iroh at the time; he hadn't expected that turn of events, especially after all the time he had spent searching for the mythic last airbender. He had no idea where Zuko was, or even why he had helped the Avatar, a contradiction of his three years of hunting him; it was not that he didn't want his nephew to take a more independent path away from his father, but he had no idea why he had done so. He thought momentarily about the fate that Zhao would be facing since their encounter, knowing that without it, Iroh might have been in a better position to actually help his nephew; he knew that his niece would have taken the issue into her own hands, and understanding her well enough, he guessed that Azula had a plot in mind to destroy him, something that made him feel relieved. If there was one threat that faced Zuko greater than the Fire Nation looking for him, it was the insane and driven Admiral who had tried to murder him in the first place. He also had heard through Bumi and some of their fellow White Lotus contacts of the supposed bounty on his own head; there was word that his own niece had been ordered to hunt him down, but he hadn't seen or heard much about her at all, other than a few rumours about her harassing Earth Kingdom locals- she was Azula, after all.

He tried to stop over-thinking the issues at hand and look forward to his meal; ever since Zuko had been lost in their shipwreck, he had been rather anxious and stressed about trying to find him, unsure if he was safe. Breathing in and out, he tried to calm himself, retrieving his teapot from his knapsack; he knew that if there was one thing that would calm his mind, it was a refreshing cup of jasmine tea. Quickly scrounging up some of the tea leaves he had in his bag, he siphoned some water from a jug that sat on the table; mixing the tea leaves and water together, he placed his hand under the teapot and begun to heat it up. Iroh hoped that none of the hungry patrons would notice his quick use of firebending, but he was sure to be discrete, not a single flame coming from his hand as it slowly heated the pot. As he heated the pot, he heard some rummaging behind him, glancing back to see a server coming out toward him with his bowl of egg noodles ready; he smiled at the server, who quickly handed the bowl to him before returning to the kitchen, looking like he had much more work to do. He wasn't surprised that the man was busy, there was a lot of people in the tavern looking for dinner.

"That tea smells pretty good." a voice noted beside him, the retired general glancing up to notice a teen girl looking at him, holding a small bowl of food for herself; she was wearing a drab blue tunic, something that looked a little out of place in the Earth Kingdom.

"It most certainly is. Would you care for some?" he asked her, the girl's eyes widening at his showing of generosity.

"Um, yes- thanks." she nodded, sitting herself down beside him, "Where'd you get the tea from? It smells better than anything I'm ever had." she admitted, the retired general chuckling as he held the teapot out, noting that it was ready.

"Oh, well I'm a bit of a tea connoisseur." he piped up, "I have travelled far and wide, and along the way you find the best teas in the world." he smiled, the girl sighing at his explanation.

"Hmph, what's it like out there?" she asked with interest, Iroh's eyes narrowing as he thought to his journeys with his nephew, his face falling long with sadness.

"It's not what it must have been before the war." he admitted, "I hope the world will be better when I leave it than what it was when I was your age." he told the girl, who looked on with interest as he poured her a cup of tea.

"That's why I left my home. I- well, not just me- my friends and I, we want to help make the world a better place." she explained, Iroh raising a brow.

"Are you helping the refugees?" he raised a brow at her, to which she nodded.

"Yes- I experienced first hand what happened to these people. It was horrific, I don't know if I've seen anything like it." she admitted, to which he looked on with sympathy; he had seen the horrors of war himself, and he knew that it was commonplace that the young like the girl before him found themselves in the thick of the hundred years of war that had plagued their world.

She sipped from the cup, her eyes widening before she smiled at him with confidence, "This tastes as good as it smells." she admitted, before making a wishful face, "I wish I could bathe in this stuff."

"Bathe?" he asked her with confusion, before shaking his head, "Well, you would have to try to see if it was any good." he acknowledged, a bit concerned by the girl's interpretation.

"Oh, well, it's a bit of an exaggeration. Tea isn't the kind of thing you'd like to get all over yourself." she chuckled, the retired general laughing along with her joke- it was a funny thought, after all.

She picked up a pair of chopsticks and begun to eat from her bowl, eating her own food, and with that Iroh did the same, having enjoyed some of his tea already; quickly slurping down the noodles, he was interrupted by another person walking up to the table.

"Amari, there you are." the voice sounding relieved; he glanced up to see another teen girl, this one wearing a full set of green and black armour, donning ornate face-paint, the look of which intrigued him.

"Oh." Amari beside him mumbled, chewing the rest of the food before turning to the other girl, "Hi, Suki. I'm just having dinner, and making conversation."

"And tea." Iroh added, Suki looking at him with narrowed eyes.

"Okay. It's nice that you're making friends, but we've got to go back to our camp and set up." she explained, the girl beside him nodding with some disappointment.

"Aw, I was looking forward to learning more about you- I don't even know your name." she admitted, the retired general chuckling, remembering the pseudonym he had chosen.

"I'm Mushi, it's been a pleasure to meet you, Amari." he smiled at her, who nodded back, eating the last of her meal from her bowl.

"He gave you tea?" Suki noticed, "You ought to give this nice man some compensation." she advised her friend, indicating that she had a kind of authority over Amari, who looked back at him with a worried look.

"I don't have much." she acknowledged, pulling a coin out of her pocket, Iroh shaking his head.

"Don't worry about it, I have more than enough to share a cup of tea with a stranger." he told her, earning a smile from Amari who nodded before getting out of her seat.

"It was nice to meet you, Mushi." she indicated to him with a curt wave before turning around to follow her friend, moving back toward the front door of the tavern.

As they moved out of the way, he noticed that someone was standing behind them, wearing the same drab blue as Amari; narrowing his eyes at the figure, he noticed the most distinguishing feature on their face- a scar covering their left eye, and not just any scar, a deep burn mark. The person before him wasn't just any random stranger, it was his very own nephew; the reaction on his face showed him that it was most certainly Zuko, who slowly stepped up to approach his table.

"U-Uncle..." he muttered in a quiet, almost fearful voice, Iroh standing up to hug his nephew, grabbing him tightly, not wanting to let him say another word.  
He hadn't seen Zuko in over two months, and for most of that time he had feared that he was dead; Iroh didn't even know what to say to his nephew, all he could do was hold him.

"I- I finally found you." Zuko told him with a voice so happy he was actually surprised to hear it coming from his nephew's mouth; he glanced up and saw small tears coming down his face, "I'm sorry, Uncle." he told him, his face falling down, seemingly ashamed.

"Sorry for what, nephew?" he asked him, the Prince looking at him with a serious face.

"I betrayed everything I should have stood for." he simply told him, a code way of telling him that he betrayed the Fire Nation, something he certainly shouldn't say in an Earth Kingdom tavern.

"What happened, nephew?" he asked him, still unsure on how him helping the Avatar unfolded, and then beyond that how he survived and came all the way into the Earth Kingdom to cross paths with him.

"Zhao was going to capture him. What else could have I done? He was going to take my honour from me, even after I defeated him." he told him with a quiet but angry tone, Iroh placing a hand on his shoulder, indicating for him to sit down.

"Nephew, sit with me. You can tell me what happened, everything." he assured him, the Prince glancing around, looking awfully afraid.

"Not here. Not with all these people." he explained to his uncle, whose eyes narrowed in consideration, understanding why he wouldn't want to talk about the matters that preceded their meeting in public.

"What about a cup of calming jasmine tea?" he asked him, Zuko's eyes brightening up with an emotion that he could only describe as joy, something he hadn't seen in his nephews eyes in a long time, and never over tea.

"I thought you'd never ask." he smiled, sitting down on the table where Amari had, looking at his teapot intently.

Iroh raised a brow at his nephew, who he knew that never had much love for his tea, "Zuko, it's unusual of you to be so happy, especially about tea." he acknowledged, before smiling at him with a sense of pride, "But I'm happy that you are."

"I learned a few things on my journey here. Loving tea, that was one of them." he acknowledged, his uncle grinning at him with glee.

"I knew you would finally get it; tea is one of life's great delights." he told him, before the two of them were interrupted, Amari and Suki beside them at the end of the table with confused faces.

"Zuko, did you want tea from Mushi too?" Amari asked him, the Prince chuckling before indicating to his uncle with a swift gesture.

"Oh, he isn't Mushi. This is my uncle." he corrected her, both of the girl's jaws dropping.

"T-this guy." she mumbled, grabbing Zuko's shoulder, pointing at him with a face of shock, "This guy was meant to be Fire Lord."

Iroh raised a brow and nodded, "Yes, that is true." he admitted the truth; as much as he wanted to become the greatest tea-brewer in the world at the moment at which he spoke, he was Crown Prince of the Fire Nation and a renowned general for most of his life before his fall from grace.

"Wow." Suki mumbled, glancing at him with a smile, "That was easier than I thought it would be." to which her friend nodded along placing a hand on her cheek, still aghast from the revelation; Zuko smiled at them both, holding up his teacup as he looked to his uncle with a curt smirk.

"This is the greatest tea you will ever taste."


	13. Self-Improvement

_"What's wrong Azula?"_

_Sitting in the one of the palace's many gardens, Princess Azula tried to ignore her friends question, knowing that she didn't want to give an answer to it; she knew that Ty Lee had good intentions with her drumming of questions, but they became annoying over time._

_"Nothing." she lied, "Everything is fine." she turned to her friend, pulling an exaggerated smirk, "Actually, things are looking up. I'm probably going to be officially instated as Crown Princess very soon." she acknowledged, knowing that the small bit of pride she could find in the promotion she would be receiving wouldn't take away from the cause of that change._

_Zuko's banishment wasn't shocking- she knew that her father had no love for him, and her brother's rather unrefined bending had always been a soft point; an Agni Kai was probably the easiest way to make Zuko crack, make him fall to his knees in a moment of weakness. Part of her knew that her father's actions were in the end justified, but even with that justification, Her brother's relent to fight was not a true act of cowardice. Zuko was not her uncle refusing to rush the walls of Ba Sing Se after Lu Ten's untimely death, he was a son who respected his father with all his heart; his respect was well founded, and she agreed with the sentiment, although of course she would have fought their father if it had come to it._

_"Is it... Zuko?" her friend asked her, her big gray eyes staring her down, looking sad in thought of his banishment; Azula refused to feel sad however, she was more so angry- angry at her uncle for letting Zuko into the war meeting, for Bujing and his rather incredulous plan, and her father's ignorance of her brother's pure dedication and loyalty._

_"It never should have happened." she simply told Ty Lee, before looking her in the eyes, "But it's done now. I can't just go and ask my father if he could take back the banishment and let Zuko prove his worth in a less stupid fashion." she admitted, her friend raising her brows at her suggestion._

_"Well, you could, couldn't you?" she asked her, the Princess shaking her head; she wouldn't dare._

_"I won't. I have to serve my duty as heir. If I angered my father like Zuko did... he wouldn't take it kindly." she admitted, Ty Lee's eyes widening at the suggestion that her father might act out against her violently if she were to oppose him._

_"W-would he really? Zuko did something bad, but you're just trying to help him." she mumbled, looking shaken by the idea of Azula getting harmed; she appreciated the sympathy, but her emotional outlook was very different to her own._

_The Princess didn't care if her father would maim her for speaking out against him, but rather was concerned that Zuko may never end up returning to the homeland; she always wanted to be the heir of her father, but she knew that her brother would be a valuable ally, scapegoat and even more so, a fair and reasonable puppet if he ever were to end up Fire Lord. Her brother was her backup, assuming the worst came to air, and without a backup, her plans for the future stood on sandcastle, like the ones she would make a child on Ember Island, ready to be washed away by the tide._

_"It doesn't matter." she told her after a long pause, still thinking about what her brother and his future, "I'm not going to do anything stupid. I'm not Zuko, remember?" she rhetorically asked Ty Lee, who nodded along with a grimace, still thinking about what had happened to her brother; Azula's description of the events were rather graphic- she had quite the vocabulary for an eleven year old._

_"Is he going to be okay, out there?" she asked her, knowing that her brother had only left the Fire Nation on an old rickety ship a few days prior; the Princess didn't know where he was going, but she knew that the Avatar was far from his grasp at any rate._

_"I'm sure Zuko is fine. Might have lost an eye, but other than that, he should be fine." she acknowledged, before narrowing her eyes, "I'm more worried about Uncle. He's a terrible influence." she admitted, Ty Lee raising a brow._

_"But I thought he was really nice, and wasn't he a really good general?" she asked her, to which she raised a brow before chuckling._

_"That's exactly why. He's far too nice. Zuko was already a soft little weakling, and I was trying to toughen him up, get him on the right path. Uncle's just an old fatty who plays Pai Sho all day and talks about tea. I don't think he's going to help my brother that much." she rambled about her uncle._

_She was annoyed beyond belief that the man that had caused Zuko's banishment in the first place was just going to run off and follow him around the world; knowing Zuko she knew he wouldn't blame Iroh, but her uncle was still at fault, and from the look on his face in the Agni Kai chamber, she guessed that he knew that too._

_"I'm sure they'll be okay together. He won't let anything happen to Zuko." she assured Azula, making her chuckle in thought; her uncle was most likely going to be getting her brother into situations he'd rather not be in._

_"Well Ty Lee, I hope you're right."_

* * *

Sitting on the windowsill of his uncle's room for the night, Zuko looked out with a tense feeling; the village was shrouded with darkness, but ever since he had reunited with his uncle, after months apart, he had a dread growing inside him that told the banished prince that his good luck would not last as long as he might like. Their reunion was the best thing that had happened to him in months, and yet he felt that it could not last; he would stay by his uncle as long as he could, but he knew there might not be a choice in the matter- they were both fugitives, and it was only a matter of time until someone from the Fire Nation decided to capture them and send them in chains to the Fire Lord. His father wasn't merciful, not in any sense of the word, and he knew that if he did not return with the Avatar, he would be as good as dead, rotting in a jail cell because of Zhao's scheming. He swore that he would end that man if he ever got the chance; disgracing his name was one thing, but purposefully subverting his quest for the Avatar was something that could only be delivered in recompense. He reminded himself of the words his father had told him as he burned his face, and they rung true when he considered the situation with the despicable Admiral; if nothing else, true suffering would teach Zhao his lesson, and from the seems of it, burning his face even worse than his father had to his own would not do. He banished his rather violent and dark thoughts from his mind, turning back to face his uncle, who was sitting by his beside, getting ready to go to sleep.

"Nephew, you look tired." he admitted, Zuko chuckling at his suggestion.

"I was about to same the same thing to you." he noted, scratching his cheek as he thought what he would want to say to his uncle before he left him to go to bed himself, "I- uh- I'm happy that you're alright Uncle. But, I'm a little surprised to hear what happened with Zhao." he told him, the retired general sighing with acknowledgement of his actions.

"I thought you were dead, nephew." he put it simply, "I knew Zhao had to be behind it, there was too many coincidences; taking matters into my own hands was the only thing I could do- I knew that your father wouldn't punish him." he admitted, Zuko nodding along with agreement.

"Father gave him a promotion between me burning his face and him trying to kill me. I understand what you mean, Uncle." he considered, thinking about his father's actions for a moment before shaking his head, not wanting to wonder if his father had purposefully allowed Zhao to subvert him.

Iroh's eyes begun to water, looking at his nephew with a tense face, "I couldn't lose you nephew, not now; you are meant for greater things than being a forgotten Prince who was made a traitor for doing his duty." he told him with a growing tone of confidence, his words implications making Zuko's face tense as he remembered what he had done; he hadn't associated the word 'duty' with fighting Zhao, although he didn't consider it dishonourable, despite the claims of treachery.

"Duty." he mumbled, "Is it my duty to try and capture the Avatar, above all else?" he asked his uncle, who simply sighed, eyeing him with a narrowed glance.

"That is for you to decide nephew. Your duty is not what others tell you to be obliged to, but what you want to be." he told his nephew, his words of wisdom sounding more treacherous with each word; he didn't think his uncle to really be a traitor, having sacrificed his position to avenge Zuko, but his words spoke of acting against his father's will, or more so, betraying the quest he had dedicated himself to for nearly three years.

"Uncle, my duty is to the Fire Nation. I need to capture the Avatar so I can do my duty, like you did." he told his uncle, whose eyes widened at his suggestion.

"N-nephew, my duty?" he asked him, looking uneasy, "I thought my duty was to conquer Ba Sing Se in the name of the Fire Nation, to end the war and finish what my grandfather started; my own son- I-" he begun to tear up, Zuko grabbing him in a hug, understanding all too well what Ba Sing Se meant, and what Lu Ten's death had done to his uncle.

"It's okay, Uncle." he assured him, his uncle wiping the tears from his eyes, breaking from the embrace with a rather concerned face, contrary to the grief he was experiencing a few moments earlier.

"You can't make the same mistakes as I did Zuko. Your duty shouldn't cost you everything; it should bring you joy, it should make you as happy as you could be." he told him with a rather serious tone, Zuko turning away at the thought of what his uncle truly meant; his uncle had lost everything, and Zuko had lost enough to understand that feeling- he didn't want to lose the last things he had.

"Uncle, I won't give up." he told him, his tone growing more confident, "I will fix what I have broken. I- I am still Prince Zuko; I want to serve my nation."  
His uncle smiled at him, although the sadness in his eyes was still present,

"That is good, Zuko. You shouldn't let your mistakes define you; you can do everything you dream to do, as long as you stay true to yourself." he assured him, Zuko smiling before standing up from the bedside, stretching his legs before turning back to face his uncle.

"Thank you, Uncle. I think- I think I understand what you mean." he confirmed to his uncle, who nodded back at his rather confident demeanour.

"Well, you best get off to bed. A man needs his rest... and his tea- we will have more tomorrow morning." he grinned at Zuko, who smiled back.

"Of course, Uncle. I wouldn't miss it." he told him with not an ounce of sarcasm, the Prince noting the stark contrast in how he would have responded to his uncle before his shipwreck and experiences on Kyoshi Island.

"You've changed, nephew." Iroh admitted, before raising his hands to assure him, "But not in a bad way, but you're different."

Walking towards the door, he glanced back his uncle, knowing that his uncle was right in a way, but not exactly; glancing back he smirked back at him, knowing that he wasn't really that different- if anything, he was returning to his true self.

"I remembered who I used to be."

* * *

"Ty Lee, could that possibly be you?"

Glancing at her friend, who had suspended herself upside-down with only her index fingers, Azula couldn't help but look impressed at the feat; she knew that her friend was nimble and flexible, but the sight of her rather casual feat of skill proved to her that she would be a valuable asset. And Azula knew as a plus she was a much preferable conversation partner than her jittery and fearful guards.

"Azula!" Ty Lee piped up with a grin, twirling around from her upside-down stance to race forward and embrace her; she inched back slightly by her tight hug, but she knew that her friend was always the touchy, happy type, so she didn't complain, "It is so good to see you!"

"Please, don't let me interrupt your... whatever it is you were doing." she told her, who back flipped and ended up in another rather interesting position, lying on her chest with one leg up in the air and another other her head.

"Tell me, what is the daughter of a nobleman doing here? Certainly our parents didn't send us to the Royal Fire Academy for Girls to end up in... places like this." she admitted, glancing around the circus that she had found Ty Lee in, noting three men trying move a platypus bear around, only to find out it had laid an egg; she did not appreciate the sight of such things, turning back to face her friend, knowing that there was a matter at hand to address, "I have a proposition for you." she opened, the nimble acrobat glancing at the platypus bear momentarily before looking back at her with a grin, "I'm hunting a traitor. You remember my old fuddy-duddy uncle, don't you?"

"Oh yeah, he was so funny." she noted, Azula looking at her were a more serious face, thinking what she ought to reveal to her old friend.

"You see, he tried to murder a Fire Nation officer that he accused of my brother's murder." she explained, Ty Lee's eyes widening, her happy demeanour broken.

"Wh-what? I-is Zuko-" she begun, the Princess shaking her head; if her brother had truly been killed by Zhao, they wouldn't be having their conversation.

"No. Zuzu isn't dead, and only the spirits would know why he didn't drown at sea." she admitted, glancing out toward the horizon, "But you see, my brother made this situation a little difficult; my father ordered me to hunt down my uncle for his treasonous actions, but a week later my brother resurfaced on a dirt-poor little island off the coast of the Earth Kingdom, helping the Avatar against Zhao." she explained, Ty Lee's eyes narrowing at her explanation.

"Zhao? Isn't that the side-burns guy?" she asked in clarification, the Princess nodding along with a smirk, loving her friends suggestive nickname for the Admiral.

"Yes he is. He was the one my uncle accused of trying to murder Zuko, and after my brother stopped him from capturing the Avatar, he fled to the mainland, where I caught him in the act." she furthered, Ty Lee gasping.

"You captured your brother?" she asked him, the Princess shaking her head.

"No, I wasn't going let little Zuzu end up in the Capital Prison for the rest of his life, just like that." she assured her friend, "That brings us to why I came here." she explained, Ty Lee looking at her uncomfortably.

"So, you want me to help you capture your uncle and Zuko?" she asked her, Azula shaking her head and smirking at her thinking of her plan to get both her father off her back and have a little family reunion at the same time.

"As great as a kidnapper as you would be, we're not capturing my brother and uncle. I want to make it look like I'm trying to, and I'm sure that together, we could stir up a good little bit of chaos." she smirked at Ty Lee, whose averse face turned a little sweeter at her request.

"I mean- I really would like to help, but-" she begun, Azula cutting her off with a raise of a hand, realising that she ought to give Ty Lee more reason; she knew that despite the disgusting and unusual life she had made for herself, she obviously wouldn't want to leave it.

"Oh, wait. I forgot to add- I'm going to be heading to the North Pole in a month or two, so you won't have to leave your circus for that long; just a little round trip, get to chat with Zuko and then you can go on your merry way and... uh- do what ever you like to do here." she explained, hoping that her short time-frame might make her request more palatable to her friend, whose change of expression suggested that it did.

"I'll- I'll consider it. I just really love it here, and my aura- it's never been pinker!" she explained herself with her usual chirpy tone, Azula nodding with concession; she had a rather dastardly intimidation tactic in mind, but decided to refrain; she didn't really want to capture her brother and uncle, so Ty Lee didn't really need to come with her.

"I'll take your word for it. I wouldn't want you to give up the life you love just to please me." she told her, knowing her words were half a lie; she most certainly didn't want Ty Lee to spend her time in a circus, wasting her skills when she could be with her, but she also knew that intimidating her friend was only one tactic to take.

"Thank you, Azula." she bowed to her respectfully, the Princess smirking at the show of deference before stepping away, glancing back at her to narrow a glance at her.

"Well- I'll be waiting for your decision; meet me before your show. You shouldn't leave without having shown me your skills." she explained to Ty Lee, whose eyes opened wide as she gasped in a slight panic, falling out of her stance.

"Uh- yeah, of course." she stammered, the Princess smirking at the bout of panic she had simply induced; of course her friend understood her well enough, but she knew that she would understand that Azula had good intentions- as good as they could get for her.

"I'm not trying to jest, I do hope you put on quite the show." she smirked back at her friend, before continuing to walk away from the circus, confident that if at the very least she couldn't persuade Ty Lee to join her on a short trip to visit her brother, she could very well coerce her into doing so.

* * *

Sitting by the embers of the campfire, Suki wiped her eyes of sleep, knowing at the very least she had woken up at dawn with a purpose; she had to get food prepared for the refugees they were protecting, as well as scout out the village, in case of any rather unwanted attention, especially from the Fire Nation. She wasn't wearing her full armour yet, knowing that she would probably only get into it just before she left on her scouting mission; she knew that time was precious, especially in the turbulent situation she had found herself in. The Kyoshi Warriors were going to protect the innocent, but they couldn't do much protecting if they weren't aware of the threats that lay beyond their sight; rising from her crouching position, she walked over to her tent, which she had pitched nearby, glancing out momentarily toward the dry and barren fields that surrounded the village in which they were residing; she was unsure if it lay barren because of the seasons, or because they didn't have enough men to till the fields regularly, the war taking up a steady supply of casualties, something she knew to be true from experience.

Moving into her tent, she pushed the rough cloth fabric out of the way to glance around her small set-up, which only consisted of a bag containing rations, her armour lying on the ground beside a quality bedroll that was probably better suited for the cold climate of Kyoshi Island, not the rather dry and hot one she had found herself in; she was sure that by the time they approached the Si Wong Desert she wouldn't be able to sleep in it, although she had heard from a trader that deserts were cold at night, something brought her a slight sense of relief. Shaking her head, she moved her rather random thoughts to the back of her mind as she grabbed her green outfit that she wore under her black plate armour. She laid the green dress over her bed, before pulling her rather boring looking blue shirt; having lived on an island where everyone else wore the same clothes, she had grown some aversion to wearing the actual traditional outfit of her people, preferring the face paint and green of her warrior's outfit.

Suki heard a crunch-like noise behind her, tilting her head to the side, unable to see out of her tent from where she stood; she was unsure what she was hearing, but not hearing an accompanying voice scared her. Thoughts raced her through her mind, considering what could be unfolding; what if the Fire Nation had already come to capture Zuko, or even worse, to burn the village to the ground, just like Rough Rhino's had done to the refugee's original home? She didn't want to find out the bad way, so she quickly reached for one of her fans, opening the golden blade like weapon, drawing it out in her hand; not wearing any clothes bar a chest binding and some leggings didn't concern her- if someone was going to try and kill her, what did it matter anyway. The sound of footsteps became louder, and Suki took as good a stance as she could inside of her tent; a shadow then formed over her tent's entrance, the light of the sun being blocked out by whoever stood outside her tent. Not taking another chance for her potential enemy, she sent her fan out in a rapid strike, hitting the figure in the chest or back, of which she couldn't tell without having left the shrouding of her tent; the person yelped, and she quickly used her free hand to grab them by the shoulder and fling them down into her tent. Glancing at their face and clothing she immediately realised her mistake; it wasn't a Fire Nation spy or scout coming in to find Zuko- it was Zuko.

"S-Suki," he muttered he name, his eyes widening at her, "uh- wh-what was that for?" he asked her, his voice sounding jittery; it took her a few moments, but she realised that she was still practically half naked, holding Zuko in a lock- the suggestiveness of the situation was not overlooked in her mind.

Blushing brightly, she turned her eyes away from him, feeling embarrassed by the situation, "Uh- well I'm sorry. I thought you were a spy or bounty-hunter, or someone trying to find and capture you." she explained, Zuko gritting his teeth, his face blushed red like her own.

"Um- well, I'm happy that wasn't the case." he told her, before indicating out of the tent with a tilt of his head, his face still looking awkward, "Can I- uh- go?" he asked her, the usually contained warrior flustered, pulling herself and turning away with aversion, waving out of the tent.

"Yes, of course. You can go." she told him, directing him out, the Prince quickly stepping out of the tent; a few moments later she heard him clear his throat.

"Are you- uh- going for a scouting mission?" he asked her, Suki sighing under her breath with relief; there was a number of far more embarrassing or uncomfortable questions Zuko could have asked her.

"Yes- that's why I'm..." she begun, trying to think of a word to describe her current situation, still fumbling around in her tent, trying to pick up her green warrior's dress to put on, "I was bared. I'm getting changed." she explained herself, before considering what he might have been coming to see her about,

"Um- why were you approaching my tent?" she asked him, the Prince coughing, as if to try and break the tension.

"Ah, I wanted to ask if I could join. I wanted to go do something before I go meet my Uncle again- he wanted to have breakfast, and meet- uh- you guys." he explained, Suki breathing out with a sense of relief; she knew that she didn't want to have any more of an awkward situation- there was other things that she was thinking that he could have come to see her about, things that she wouldn't dare speak of, out of fear that he might reject her.

"Um- yes- you can come." she accepted, quickly pulling her dress over her shoulders and down over her body, tightening some strings around the back and sides to ensure the dress fit well to her form; she was a warrior after all- their dresses were elegant, but they were designed for fighting, not for show.

Grabbing her plate armour pieces, she tightened each of them where they ought to go, pulling over the larger doublet chest pieces that covered her torso on both the back and front; she grabbed her fans and katana, holstering her weapons, knowing that she might eventually need to use them, as much as she wouldn't want to. She approached her small make-up set, quickly applying the white powder to her face before taking out a small glass mirror to do her eyes, something that was quite articulate and required precision; half the part of becoming a Kyoshi Warrior was achieving the right look, something she had worked a long time to perfect. She quickly applied the face paint with her fingers, precisely achieving the same look that she had perfected over years of practice, standing up tall before breathing in and out; she wanted to remain calm around Zuko, and after their little accident, she was sure that it would be hard- harder than usual, that was.

* * *

He didn't like the odd wrenching feeling in his gut that he had grown to disdain, but given what he had just experienced, he didn't know what to feel. Zuko felt a sense of embarrassment that he hadn't felt a long time, not since Azula had kicked him and Mai into that water fountain when he was a little kid; it was a very different situation, seeing that Suki was barely wearing any clothes, and she had pinned him to the ground as if he was some kind of assassin. He momentarily mused at the thought that his Blue Spirit persona was essentially an assassin, but pushed that thought to the back of his mind, trying to ignore what had unfolded. He breathed in and out, just like his uncle always told him to, trying to remain calm; he didn't want to act out because of what just happened, knowing that Suki probably felt as bad as he did. More than an invasion of privacy, the encounter brought up feelings that he didn't want to address; not with just finding his uncle, finally able to actually consider his quest again- he wanted to capture the Avatar and return home to his rightful place, and his friendship with Suki was one thing that he didn't want to sacrifice to his duty. Making things complicated wasn't going to help him, and he was sure, despite her leniency, that Azula and whoever else in the Fire Nation could make use of his bounty would be ready to pounce and capture him.

After a few moments of awkward, tense silence, the Kyoshi Warrior walked out of her tent, looking proper and most certainly clothed, wearing her armour and make-up proudly, "Okay, are you ready to go?" she asked him, the Prince nodding along confidently, knowing the quicker he got away from the tent the quicker they could put their encounter behind them.

"Yes. I- uh- should I wear my mask?" he asked her, indicating back toward his own tent, the head warrior shaking her head, smiling at him.

"You don't need to cover your face at the moment; I'm sure there's no Fire Nation people around looking for you, and if there is any, we can out stealth them." she offered him, Zuko tilting his head to the side and narrowing his eyes.

"Well... I'm sure my sister could out-stealth us." he admitted, shaking his head before beginning to walk up to her, "She's probably far from here, dealing with Zhao and his craziness." he thought aloud, Suki smirking back at him.

"We can hope. If she's as good as you say she is, maybe you won't have to worry about sideburns guy." she suggested, as she begun to walk alongside him out of the camp, holding her hand by her waist, ready to use her fans if necessary.

He grimaced at the thought, "Oh." he mumbled, before admitting with a rather disturbed face, "That'd solve things." he noted, before shaking his head,

"Killing isn't the way I'd like my rivalry with Zhao to be solved."

"Hey, at least you're not the one who has to do any of that. You're right here, helping these refugees find a new life." she told him with a smile of assurance, indicating that she understood his emotions on the topic; he hated Zhao, but he didn't want him to die, because he knew that would be stain on his own honour, just like the mark he bore on his face.

"I don't want this war to take any more lives needlessly." he admitted to her, agreeing with her, but knowing he was simply affirming the belief he had held all his life; his father's punishment didn't change the wrongs that were made in that war meeting.

The Fire Nation's military had been letting their own loyal citizens die for no other reason but to cause more death and misery; he believed that the war would eventually help the world, but the Fire Nation had to better itself and its view on the rest of the world if they were to be truly victorious, as Fire Lord Sozin had originally envisioned.

As they continued to walk along through the barren fields, they came up a hill, reaching it's rocky and barren peak, looking out at the surrounding lands; Suki indicated with a point across to the mountains on the horizon, "Look out there. Can you see the smokestacks?" she asked him, Zuko narrowing his eyes to glance out, noting the towers of smoke, hazy and hard to see by the horizon,

"Fire Nation soldiers, maybe?" she asked him, the Prince narrowing his eyes.

"Would refugees go and camp in the mountains?" he asked her rhetorically, the warrior shaking her head.

"Exactly. Do you think they're looking for you?" she wondered, the Prince cringing at the thought before shaking his head.

"Too many smokestacks. It's probably a whole division. Maybe they're here to conquer something." he admitted, the warrior furrowing a brow.

"Omashu's to the west of here; maybe the Fire Nation is finally going to conquer it?" she suggested, the Prince's eyes widening remembering his uncle's story from the night prior.

"Uncle told me that when he was guided out of Omashu that they had to avoid Fire Nation scouts. Maybe that's why- an invasion." he noted, his eyes widening at the thought; a large Earth Kingdom city in the mountains was a deathtrap for the Fire Nation- skillful engineering and war-machines would only get them so far.

"I hope they lose." she admitted to him, before glancing at him with a grimace,

"Sorry, I didn't mean to offend."

Zuko nodded at her with concession, "None taken. We're at war, what else could you say?" before he pointed down along the fields to the north of them, "Will we keep going?"

She nodded with a smile, looking relieved that she hadn't angered him with her words, "Of course." Suki told him, quickly picking up pace as both of them began to walk down the hillside across the barren fields.

Pacing their way along the outskirts of the village, Zuko took note of a large woodland area just to their west, something he considered to keep in mind just in case their stay in the village took a turn for the worse; he knew they would need an escape plan, and although a forest was a horrible place to go if you were running from firebenders, he knew the group would be relatively safe as long as he and his uncle were by their side.

"Where are we going next?" he asked her, Suki raising a brow at him.

"Oh, I thought you might be leaving with your uncle, now that you've found him." she admitted, the Prince shaking his head.

"We're safer in a group, and at the moment I don't know how we will be able to redeem ourselves." he noted, the Kyoshi Warrior glancing at him with some aversion.

"When you say 'redeem', you don't mean in the sense of doing something bad to the Earth Kingdom, do you?" she asked him, Zuko remaining silent for a few moments, unsure how to respond; the Avatar was his goal, but he didn't want to tell Suki that- it was better if everyone didn't know what he and his uncle would have to do to return to the Fire Nation.

"I need to prove my innocence- I'm not a traitor... and then I need to complete my task." he admitted, Suki looking back at him with suspicion.

"You always mention this task, but you've never told me what it is." she noted, pulling up the one issue he really didn't want to discuss; after the fight on Kyoshi Island, he knew that she and her people were aligned with the Avatar, and if he were to be wholly truthful, that would damage their relationship- he didn't want to get her or anyone else involved in something that was only between him and the Avatar.

"I- uh..." he mumbled, trying to think of something to say, "I can't do what I have to do. Not right now- it's impossible. But one day I will return to my homeland, and to my place as Crown Prince." he told her, the warrior's eyes widening.

"About that, what are you going to do?" she asked him, the Prince narrowing his eyes, wanting to clarify exactly what she meant by those vague words.

"Um. Do what?" he asked, Suki sighing with slight annoyance at his ignorance.

"When you become Crown Prince." she told him, her eyes looking at him with suspicion; ever since she had found out about his true identity, he knew that she didn't trust him completely.

"I- I will do what I think is right." he told her truthfully, the girl's eyes narrowing as she stepped closer to him, as they continued pace their way along through the fields.

"What is that?" she furthered her questioning, Zuko sighing with a sense of nostalgia, thinking about what his life was like before his mother left, when his life was better, brighter and happier.

"I will make things better. The Fire Nation is far from perfect, and if I prove my worth to my father, I can help shape the future of the world, to make a better one than the crap one we're living in." he admitted, glancing to the campsite that sat in the distance from them, "I don't want this kind of stuff to keep happening. People fleeing their homes, children losing their parents, all of the suffering- it's not right." he admitted to her truthfully, making her smile at him with appreciation.

"Thank you. I'm just glad that you're looking at the Earth Kingdom in a better light." she admitted, the Prince chuckling at her suggestion.

"Ah, well not exactly. Your people still threatened to throw me to a sea monster; I can't see how much better that is than a Fire Nation prison rig." he admitted to her, the warrior sighing with concession.

"Fair enough. The Unagi is a bit overkill, I will admit."


	14. Hunting the Truth

_"Prince Zuko, what's wrong?"_

_Zuko turned his head from side to side trying to listen out for the odd noise he made out. the sound ever so quiet but noticeable; he glanced back at his uncle, who was sitting down sipping a cup of tea after Music Night, which he had avoided, only returning to meet with his uncle after the festivities ended._

_"I- I think I heard something." he told his uncle, before suddenly the metal frame of the ship they sat in shook violently, the vessel swaying from side to side; his eyes widened in realisation, turning to his uncle, "We're under attack!" he almost shouted, both he and his uncle rising from their seated positions._

_"Nephew, we have to wake the crew. There is no telling what will happen next." Iroh told him, who nodded back with agreement, pacing to the door, "Get everyone up and ready for a fight. I'm going to check what's going on." he told his uncle, who nodded back at him with a face of aversion; he obviously didn't want the Prince getting himself into danger, but his uncle's concerns weren't going to stop him- he was the captain of their ship, and the captain had to lead._

_He glanced at his uncle momentarily before stepping out of the doorway, and beginning to race down the metal hallway; Zuko found himself struggling to keep balance as the ship continued to sway, the sounds of unnatural metallic noises and the crew's voices becoming louder as time went a long. Opening the front door out of the brig, he glanced around the deck at noted what seemed to be a burning hole by the front of the ship, having pierced part of the deck, although the damage seemed to be mostly superficial; turning his gaze to the black waters around his ship, his eyes narrowed trying to make out who ever had just attacked them. A few moments later a bright light came into view, and it became brighter and more distinguishable as it approached; it was a ball of rock and fire, being launched from a catapult; Zuko realised within a few seconds that the projectile was going to strike right where he stood, and he quickly raced backwards to get out of its path. His quick reaction didn't help him too much when the fiery ball struck the deck of the ship, the heat of the explosion searing his clothes as he tried to redirect the flames around him; his dispersion stopped him from getting burnt, but the deck of the ship was quickly ripped up and crumpled, flinging the Prince off of the deck and into the air, dust and flames licking his skin, making him shout out in pain as he was thrown from the deck._

_"Ahhhhhhh!" he screamed out at the top of his lungs, as he flew from the deck of his ship and out into the dark, cold sea water below; his scream was only stopped and muffled by the water that enveloped his field of vision._

_A few moments of darkness and muffled sound led to a breach in the water, Zuko finally able to see again, only making out the light of the flames upon the dark structure of his ship; he thrust his arms forward, trying to swim back towards his boat, which was still in motion. He knew if he wasn't quick, his boat would continue along and then be sunk by their unknown attackers, who continued to throw fireballs at his ship; a few moments after he resurfaced another explosion struck his ship, ripping apart the bridge and flinging large pieces of metal out onto the water, forcing the Prince to dive down into the water to avoid being struck by the debris. Once he returned to the surface, he found himself more distant from his ship, which was covered in flames and still being attacked; he could make out at the distance where the fireballs were being shot from, but it didn't make much of a difference to Zuko, who was simply trying to stay afloat and not drown. Pushing one arm after another forward, he pushed himself toward his ship, to little gain, as it continued to be struck by balls of fire, the metal hull being ripped apart; his eyes paled in realisation as he screamed out in horror._

_"Uncle! No!" he bellowed, trying to keep swimming with all the effort he could muster; as seconds turned into minutes, he begun to tire, realising as the ship was sinking in the distance he had no hope of reaching it, "No!" he shouted out again, and punched a fist down into the water in anger as he continued to swim._

_He knew he was becoming tired, and soon enough his swimming slowed to a crawl and Zuko found himself floating in the water, unable to do much but lie in the dark, cold sea water, unable to get the taste of salt out of his mouth; he began to paddle himself forward, hoping that he would get closer to someone or something- he considered for a moment that perhaps his uncle and the crew had escaped via their steamers, but he was too far away from the ship to be able to see if they had. The banished prince wanted to scream, but all he could do was whimper, and begun to cry; he was usually defined by keeping a tough exterior, to try and imitate the strength that his father had desired out of him, but he knew there was no hope in doing that he when it was more likely he was going to drown at sea than ever complete his quest to find the Avatar. At that moment he accepted it- he wasn't going to win, he was going to lose, and in accepting that he continued to paddle, trying to keep himself afloat, and his mind on the only thing he could do; he would keep on moving his limbs forward, and maybe if he was lucky, he would see the light of day again._

* * *

"I think we're safe, for the moment."

Zuko nodded along to Suki's words, agreeing with her sentiment about the safety of the village from any outside threats; much to his frustration however, that wasn't the only thing on his mind- thinking about his role as Crown Prince wasn't enough to distract him from what had happened to him earlier that morning. He wanted to quickly dart into the inn to see his uncle, the image of what had happened not that long ago in her tent making him feel uneasy in Suki's presence; not that he didn't ever have improper thoughts, he just knew he should avoid them, especially when he was trying to remain calm and collected in front of her.

"Yes..." he acknowledged, unable to think of a response.

"Uh- Zuko, are you okay?" she asked him, the Prince coughing into his hand and nodding with a false sense of confidence.

"Of course. I'm just- uh- I want to go talk to my uncle, before we get to work on feeding the camp." he excused himself, the warrior raising a brow at him.

"Uh, yes. That's why we're here." she indicated to the door of the inn beside them, the Prince's face becoming flustered, knowing that his excuse had already been broken.

"Well, I- uh-" he mumbled, scratching the side of his head, unsure how to phrase his feelings, "I just feel a bit weird about what happened earlier." he admitted to her, the warrior looking at him with a suspicious face, although he could notice a slight pink flush on her cheeks, but it was much less obvious than how he thought he looked.

"Well, I'm sorry that I got you in a headlock, but you really ought not to sneak up on me- especially when I'm getting dressed." she advised him, the Prince's eyes widening as he moved closer, holding a finger over his mouth to tell her to hush.

"Don't talk about it here." he told her with a fearful face, "We're in public."

"What, are you afraid of getting embarrassed in front of a bunch of people you'll probably never meet again?" she questioned him with a smirk, looking like she was taking the situation a lot better than he was, much to his annoyance.

"I was more thinking the refugees. And the other Kyoshi Warriors. Amari would use the excuse to kill me." he argued, Suki rolling her eyes at his claims.

"Pfft- that's a serious exaggeration." she chided him, "But you do have a point. We won't talk about this any more, how about that?" she offered him, the Prince nodding along.

"Yes... and I'm sorry, again." he apologised, the head warrior shaking her head.

"Don't worry, I'm not angry with you, if that's what you were thinking." she admitted with a slight blush before tilting her head down the street, "I'm going back to the camp- be quick with your uncle, I'm sure everyone will be hungry for breakfast." she explained, Zuko nodding back with understanding.

"Of course." he confirmed to her, as she walked away, giving a curt wave before heading on down toward the camp, which was located in the southern outskirts of the village.

As soon as she left his field of view, Zuko let out a sigh of relief, feeling that he wasn't going to do anything out of line with the warrior departed; he momentarily considered what he might have said to her, but then knew that he wasn't ever going to. If there was one thing Zuko lacked it was confidence; his steely determination didn't help him when it came to more ambiguous social issues. He opened the door of the tavern and made his way to the staircase at the back of the main room, noting that it was empty of any patrons at that time in the morning- he had gotten up at sunrise, after all. The Prince quickly paced up the stairs before slowing his pace along the rickety wooden floor, knowing he didn't want to wake any of the other guests up; he approached his uncle's room and quickly made out the familiar smell of jasmine tea being brewed. He opened his uncle's door, finding him sitting on a wooden stool by the window with his tea-pot.

"Nephew, I thought you might show up soon. Here for some tea?" he asked

Zuko, who smiled at his uncle, giving him a nod.

"Yes. I've been craving it ever since I woke up." he admitted to him, making the retired general chuckle.

"Ah, we have that in common, nephew." Iroh grinned back at him, Zuko taking a seat on the side of his uncle's bed; pulling out a cup, he poured one for his nephew, who took it with a smile, holding the warm cup in his hand.

"How was your sleep?" he asked his uncle, who shrugged his shoulders.

"Better than sleeping rough but I've had better." he admitted, "I'm sure this will be the best sleep I will have for a while."

"We will be heading out and camping in the wilds. It's all we can do; these refugees, I promised to help them." he explained to his uncle, who smiled back at him with appreciation.

"I am proud of your decision, Zuko. I thought you might have grabbed me and decided we would run off to find the Avatar." he admitted, the Prince chuckling at the suggestion.

"As much as I would like to find him and redeem my honour, I don't see how it will be possible with us being branded traitors." he acknowledged, Iroh furrowing a brow.

"That is true. It would be unwise to seek out the Avatar when the Fire Nation is looking for us." he agreed, "And for him." he noted, the Prince sighing with a gruff tone of annoyance.

"I can't let anyone else take him. Especially Zhao." he told his uncle, who nodded along.

"Yes, nephew, I understand, but what can we do?" he asked him.

"Nothing. We can't do anything but hopefully avoid capture; I guess if we could find the crew again maybe we could scrounge up some resources to track the Avatar down." he admitted, his uncle sighing with a sense of despair.

"I don't know what became of them." he told his nephew with a sad tone, "I tried to teach Zhao a lesson, but in the process I left them stranded. I assume they must have returned to the homeland, with there no ship or prince for them to follow."

"I hope they are faring well. It's my fault anyway, Uncle, not yours." he assured him, the retired general sipping from his tea-cup before furrowing a brow at him.

"Your fault? Nephew, I don't see how any of this is your fault." he asked him with confused face, Zuko sighing, placing his tea cup down.

"I shouldn't have gone after Zhao, I shouldn't have burnt his face. He was asking for it, but he did what he did because I dishonoured him." he admitted to his uncle, whose eyes widened at his suggestion.

"Dishonoured?" he asked his nephew rhetorically, "You barely did anything but give him that burn mark. He was promoted soon afterwards, for spirits sake." he grumbled with a tone of distaste, the Prince sharing in that emotion.

"He didn't receive the consequences of his actions, not like I did." he told his uncle, whose looked at him with suspicion.

"Prince Zuko, what are you trying to say?" he asked him, his nephew looking on with determination.

"I need to end him. Once and for all." he gritted his teeth, "He tried to have me killed Uncle. He was going to try and kill you too." his tone rose, Iroh raising his arms to try and calm him down.

"Nephew, please. Don't get angry over something you can't change- what happened, happened. Zhao can wait." he tried to assure Zuko, who shook his head in dismissal.

"Uncle, what else can I do? I can't capture the Avatar, at the very least I can redeem some of my honour by finishing what I started." he told his uncle, who shook his head with disapproval.

"Do you really think it is honourable to kill a man after you have already made your point?" he asked, the Prince shaking his head.

"No it isn't." he honestly told him, "But I'm angry. I'm still angry." he furthered, Iroh placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Perhaps you should consider what is the cause of this pain you feel. Zhao isn't the only one who has hurt you." he suggested to his nephew, who inched back, his eyes widening.

"Uncle. I- I wouldn't dare. The only reason I'm trying to capture the Avatar is because I want to return to my father with respect and honour!" he shouted at his uncle, "How dare you tell me to act against him because of my weakness!" he gritted his teeth, pointing to his scar.

"How dare a father maim his own son just to prove his own flawed point." he retorted to his nephew, his tone strong and commanding, something Zuko didn't expect out of his uncle.

As much as he wanted to argue, he knew deep down that his uncle was right, and he didn't want to admit it to himself; instead of remaining angry, Zuko sat himself down on the bed, his eyes widening at the thought of what his uncle was really asking him.

"U-Uncle..." he mumbled, his head falling into his hands, "I don't know... I don't know what I should do anymore."

"What would Prince Zuko do?" Iroh simply asked him, who raised his brows at the question.

"Wh-what? I'm Prince Zuko." he simply responded with confusion, unsure as to what his uncle actually meant.

"You act like you are someone that you are not. What do you want to do?" he clarified, his eyes narrowing in thought of what he had told Suki earlier.

"I... I want to fix the Fire Nation. I want to make it better, so- so what happened in that war-council meeting can never happen again." he told his uncle the raw truth, the retired general placing a hand on his shoulder.

"You were right." he simply told him, tears falling from the Prince's eyes, knowing exactly what his uncle meant, "You were always right. And I was a coward not to stand up with you." he admitted, Zuko grabbing his uncle in a hug, not wanting to hear another word.

"Thank you, Uncle." he told him with a sniffle, the tears still coming from his eyes.

"No, Zuko. It is you I ought to thank." he told his nephew, reaching into his pocket, looking at the Prince with a face of regret, "It seems that I'm giving you this again." he acknowledged, revealing the dagger that Iroh had gifted him all those years ago, when he was serving on the front-line at Ba Sing Se.

"Uncle." he nearly gasped, "T-the dagger." he mumbled, reaching out to touch it, his uncle handing him the weapon, which he balanced between his hands,

"Never give up without a fight." he recited its words, his uncle repeating what he said prior, his voice more confident and less despairing as he looked him dead in the eyes.

"You were always right."

* * *

Standing behind her friend, Azula knew with the look on her face that she had changed her mind; her slight intervention in the circus show had led to quite the spectacle, if she were to be completely honest. More importantly, she had used the classic power of intimidation to ensure Ty Lee's loyalty; she glanced at her face through the mirror and smiled at her, knowing exactly what to say.

"What an exquisite performance. I can't wait to see how you'll top yourself tomorrow." she admitted, her words actually not a lie, something that made her feel slightly off; she knew that if Ty Lee were to survive something even more amazing, it would excite her, even if it were to delay her plans.

"I'm sorry Azula," the acrobat smiled at her through the mirror, "but unfortunately there won't be a show tomorrow."

"Really?" she asked her with a false sense of surprise.

She hung up her tiara on the desk in front of her, "The universe has given me strong hints that it's time for a career change." she explained herself, rising from her seat and glancing back at Azula, "I want to join you on your mission."

The Princess smirked with satisfaction at her friend, "Brilliant." she told her, clasping a hand on her shoulder, "We can leave at once. I have some quarters prepared for you on my tank-train." she explained, Ty Lee smiling back at her.

"Oh thanks." she piped up, "I just- uh- need to collect some of my things, and we can go." she noted, Azula nodding along with understanding.

"Go ahead, get what you need." she simply told her, the girl smiling back at her before walking over to a box that contained some of her belongings, pulling out a number of random items that she shoved into a small bag, which the acrobat slung across her shoulder.

"I think we're going to have a lot of fun." Ty Lee piped up, the Princess smirking at her, chuckling at the thought of the plans she had for 'dealing' with the issue of her fugitive uncle and brother.

"Oh, you're right, Ty Lee. We will have fun." she told her, turning around to indicate out of the tent, "Let's go. I'm sure you'd like to get a good rest before we start searching in the morning."

"Yes. I need my beauty sleep." she acknowledged, Azula tilting her head in consideration.

"Don't we all." she agreed, the two of them leaving the confines of the tent and walking out to the field that surrounded the circus, following a path downhill toward her tank-train, whose dark metal form was only distinguished in the light of the night by the light from its interior, where her men awaited her, ready to set out eastward toward Omashu, and with it, to narrow down exactly where her uncle had gone.

Approaching the tank-train, her guards noted her arrival, opening the doors for Azula and her new companion to enter; she walked in first, Ty Lee looking quite averse at the sight of the vehicle, before she stepped in. The Princess pointed out the rather luxurious room that she had set up for herself, her friend gasping with surprise.

"This is where you get to stay?" she asked her with a voice of disbelief.

"Of course, I am Crown Princess, after all." she smirked, indicating for her friend to take a seat by the small table she had in one part of her carriage.  
They sat down facing each other, Ty Lee glancing around with surprise at the luxurious accommodation, "So is my room going to be anything like this?" she asked the Princess, who sighed with a cringed face; as much as she would like to offer Ty Lee similar luxury in exchange for her services, she knew that she would be provided rather mundane accommodation.

"I'm sorry to say you won't get all the luxury of a Princess, but your quarters I believe will be good enough." she admitted, Ty Lee shaking her head at the obviousness of it.

"Of course, you're the Princess, I'm just a random add along- you shouldn't have to give me all the luxuries in the world... no matter how much I'd like them." she chuckled, Azula rolling her eyes at her friend.

"Well you did come here out of your own volition, you ought to get something better. I'll be sure once I return to my ship to improve your quarters- you will get what you are owed." she told her friend, who smiled back at her.

"Huh, thanks 'Zula! You're being... uh- nice for a change." she admitted with an awkward face, the Princess shaking her head.

"I treat my allies with respect. And I treat those who deserve my respect with mercy." she told her friend, whose eyes narrowed.

"Yeah, about that... what about Zuko?" she asked Azula, who sighed, knowing that question would crop up eventually.

"Zuzu is rather misguided." she admitted, "I understand that he only helped the Avatar back on that backwash of an island purely because it was in his self-interest, even if that self-interest involved betraying his duties to the Fire Nation." she explained her thoughts, before chuckling, "I would have done the same- I respect his decision, but even then, I am obligated to find him and send him back to the Fire Lord in chains." she acknowledged, Ty Lee nodding along with a rather saddened face.

"Huh, it sucks that every thing turned out how it did." she lamented, Azula tilting her head to the side in considering her thought.

"Well, it does. If Zuko had half a brain he would be Crown Prince right now and we would be hunting down the Avatar together." she admitted, her face forming a light scowl in thought of what could have been.

"But you can still help him, can't you?" she asked the Princess, who looked with slight aversion for a moment, silence filling the room.

"Perhaps. But he needs to be smart enough to figure a way out of his little dilemma of treachery." she acknowledged, "And I can help him right now, although in a rather indirect manner."

"Indirect?"

"Well, for starters, I can kill Zhao and stop him from capturing the Avatar, and then I can make sure the Avatar remains on the run while my brother remains a fugitive." she explained her plan, Ty Lee's eyes widening at the suggestion, remaining silent until Azula finished her exposition.

"Um- you want to kill someone?" she asked her, taken aback by the suggestion, although not necessarily surprised.

"Not necessarily kill, but ensure that he ends up dead, most certainly- if I'm lucky the Avatar will handle that job for me." she smirked in thought, the acrobat raising a brow at her.

"Azula. You seem to really hate this guy." she noted, the Princess scoffing at the suggestion.

"No. Zhao hasn't done too much to me personally to make me despise him, but by actively trying to kill and undermine my brother, he has earned the right of being the first person I truly want to annihilate." she explained herself, Ty Lee not responding for a few moments, seemingly trying to come up with a response.

"Well, I guess at least you and Zuko aren't fighting anymore." she acknowledged, the Princess winking at her at the suggestion.

"Oh, that's where you're wrong Ty Lee. I did say we were going to have fun, remember?"

* * *

"It's breakfast time!"

Suki put on a smile as she stood at the campfire, where they had been recooking hog meat from last night's dinner; she watched the refugees assemble out, the children first, ready to be fed- the group was looking a lot better after their first proper meal in a few days. She wanted to be happy, especially seeing her work come to fruition, but she felt a sense of aversion- of fear, thinking about what she had spoken to the banished prince of the Fire Nation about. Zuko's reaction from her questioning indicated to her that he was on their side, in one way or another, but even then she couldn't help but feel a sense of dread that everything was going to fall about; whether it would be by his doing, she didn't know. She didn't want to blame him either, but he was the obvious choice to single out; as much as she didn't want to admit it, she knew Amari had been right all along, even if not about everything, but she had been right about enough of it.

As the refugees came up to her, she would give them a smile and give them a divvied up piece of meat before sending them on their way, trying to get the portions right for each of them- she knew children probably needed less and the adults more, so she went off that assumption; she was working alongside Nakata and Esumi to feed the group, with Sawa and Amari nowhere to be seen- she assumed that they were still in their tents. She rolled her eyes at the thought of her warriors lazing off, but she knew that they needed a break every once in a while, and cooking wasn't exactly a role that any of them specialised in. She heard an unexpected gravelly voice behind her, and glanced back to see Zuko approaching with his uncle, who was giving them all an uncompromising grin; the warrior smiled back at them, the Prince's eyes moving away from her glance momentarily before the two of them reached the campfire.

"Good morning!" the older man piped up, pulling a tea pot out from his bag, "This breakfast could be made better by a good pot of tea." he suggested to them, Suki and her warriors catching glances with each other for a moment before she nodded back at him.

"Of course, any tea is welcome here." she smiled at him, appreciating his generosity; she was starting to understand why Zuko said his uncle was obsessed with tea, but she wasn't complaining- the more the merrier, especially when he would be serving a group of tired and hungry refugees.

"Tea?!" one of the refugees asked, "We love tea!"

"Who doesn't?" he piped back at him, the refugees cheering him on as he sat down by the camp fire and quickly begun to prepare a pot for them; she guessed he would be brewing a few pots, seeing how many people were at their camp.

Zuko stood beside her and the warriors, indicating to the roasted meat which they were cutting up for eating, "I'll help with the rest of this."

She raised a brow at him, "Okay. You'll need a knife to cut up the meat to hand out." she explained, the Prince smirking at her, pulling a dagger from his belt, something she hadn't seen before.

"I've got one." he explained, the warriors glancing at the weapon with interest; Esumi raised a brow at the revealed weapon, speaking first with a tone of interest.

"Is that the dagger?" she emphasised, the Prince showing them the side of the blade which was marked with some text, from which Suki read out.

"Made in the Earth Kingdom?" she asked him, Zuko flipping the blade around to reveal more text, this time a little more interesting; as she read the words she realised that it was the very dagger he had referred to when they were training.

"Never give up without a fight." she read the words out, already knowing that they would say; he smiled at the sight of the words being reiterated before he knelt down beside them, moving to begin cutting up some of the meat.

"Sorry I took so long. Uncle and I... we got a little distracted." he apologised to her, the head warrior shrugging.

"Eh, Sawa and Amari both haven't showed up this morning; you arriving at all is good enough." she noted, Nakata and Esumi both furrowing their brows with annoyance.

"Yeah. Lazy bums." Nakata grumbled, her fellow warrior eyeing her with a nod; she agreed with the sentiment, but she desired to remain rather impartial to issue, and thus remained silent.

She knelt back down again and continue to cut up the still hot meat; they had a lot of it, and she knew that they would have full bellies for a few days still, but she knew that carrying the meat itself was a burden, so she and the warriors agreed that it should be eaten quickly to keep their baggage to a minimum. Of the group they only had a few ostrich-horses that were salvaged from the village's ruins and they couldn't carry much, only a few tents, bags and anyone too old or sick to walk for too long. She continued to hand out meat until there wasn't much but the scraps, and indicated to her warriors and Zuko to dig in, knowing that they probably hadn't eaten much themselves.

"Thanks." he told her simply, grabbing a few pieces of charred meat and chewing on them; the Prince cringed at the taste of the food, but ate it nonetheless.

"Well, at least we've got our own rations." Nakata admitted, Esumi nodding along.

"Yeah, I don't know how else we'd be able to feed all these people. Will we go hunting tonight as well?" she asked Suki, who sighed at the thought.

"Well yes, I guess we will have to. We should try and find some smaller game, so it's easier to carry in case we want to preserve it." she noted, Zuko raising a brow at her suggestion.

"Recooking every time you eat?" he asked, the head warrior nodding, before raising a brow, glancing at him and then further afield to his uncle, who was still serving the refugees tea.

"You're both... you know. I think it wouldn't be that hard." she suggestively told him, the Prince sighing.

"I'd rather not be purely seen for the utility of my bending." he admitted, the warriors chuckling along at his reaction.

"Oh, not just that, kicking ass when it comes to it as well." Nakata piped up, the Prince rolling his eyes.

"That's a little better." he admitted, before Suki made a little smile at him, thinking what he would really like to here.

"And your tea isn't that bad either." she told him, the Prince's face lighting up with a smile so rare and genuine that she was surprised, but then again she knew that his unspoken desire was to improve his tea skills.

"I mean, I'm not as good as Fire Nation General turned tea master over there," he indicated to his uncle, before smirking with a confidence, "but I think I've gotten better."

"I heard that!" she could hear his uncle pipe up, "Thank you, nephew!" he grinned back at him, Zuko cringing with embarrassment.

"Oh, well you can help your uncle with the tea then." Suki suggested, to which he sighed and nodded at her with that rare smile still on his face.

"Uh, yeah- I will. We can never have enough tea."

* * *

"What's with the ugly clothes?"

The Crown Princess of the Fire Nation chuckled at her friends suggestion, agreeing with the sentiment that wearing unsightly clothes was something that she ought to avoid; given the situation however, Azula knew that wearing the drabs of an Earth Kingdom peasant would be the best way to sneak up on her brother and uncle to have a little catch-up session.

"We need to disguise ourselves. It's not like we can walk into any random Earth Kingdom village looking like Fire Nation conquerors; it would cause a panic, and that is exactly what I desire to avoid." she explained, Ty Lee raising a brow at her explanation.

"A panic? Hmmm- so we want to sneak in, no one knowing a thing." she clarified, the Princess nodding along with a smirk.

"Exactly." she confirmed, handing Ty Lee the pair of the clothes that she had set out for her.

She had had her guards procure some Earth Kingdom clothes as part of her expedition to find her uncle, on the off-chance that she might find use of them; she wasn't masquerading into Ba Sing Se, but it was a good enough reason in her eyes- her brother and uncle were targets she needed to handle with care. She had an idea that if she were to run into an Earth Kingdom village she would rouse anger and fear, and give Zuko and her uncle the opportunity to escape; not that she wanted to capture them at that very moment, but she knew that needed to deal with them in a rather cautious manner. She needed to talk with Zuko, and with any luck she could provide them with some intelligence and plans that would at the very least lead her brother toward capturing the Avatar instead of ending up in a Fire Nation prison, rotting away in a rather un-princely fashion.

"So, we're going to 'meet' Zuko and your funny uncle?" the acrobat asked in clarification, still seeming unsure with what Azula's plans actually involved.

"We will meet them, under the guise of capturing them however. That means you need to treat this like a kidnapping, not a social gathering." she explained, Ty Lee nodding along with some understanding.

"Well, I still am the best chi-blocker around. I'm sure I can handle whatever gets thrown our way." she assured Azula, who smiled back at her friend's confidence.

"I'm sure you will, Ty Lee." she rallied on her confidence, indicating back toward the end of the carriage, "You should get changed in there. We'll meet outside in a few minutes and then we will be on our way." she explained, her friend smiling back at her, tilting her head.

"Huh- so are we close to where they are?" she asked, the Princess chuckling.

"Our scouting efforts have found evidence of campsites along through the mountains out of Omashu. There's a village just over this hill, and I'm sure that my uncle is either there, or has been quite recently. If we're lucky, Zuko might have run up in this direction as well- he's obviously looking for the old fool himself." she explained, Ty Lee smiling back at her.

"Well that's good. I sure wouldn't want to be walking around in the wilderness looking for your uncle and brother." she admitted, the Crown Princess smirking back at her.

"We're far above searching in the mud. We're high flying birds, and our prey are in sight."


	15. The Element of Surprise

_Peering over a bush, Princess Azula found her eyes set on her target; her brother was sitting one of the gardens around the palace, by the pond, feeding the turtle-ducks, as he always seemed to do. The activity made her frown every time she thought of it; it was Zuko's reverence toward their mother, and it frustrated her to no end. She had never held much care for their mother, and she thought that once she had suddenly disappeared coincidentally with their grandfather's death, that her brother would have grown out of his childish ways. Azula smirked at the thought that she would at the very least be teaching her elder brother a lesson in her little prank; a good one at that- he would learn to always keep an eye over his shoulder. Sending a small, but precise fireball above her brother's head, she noted that he didn't notice her move, telling her that he was quite engrossed in his activity of feeding the small, stupid looking animals. She jumped out from over the bush, taking a move from Ty Lee's books, using a graceful acrobatic move to land her foot on her brother's shoulder, who had little time to react to her attack; he found his face and upper body forced into the water, scaring away the turtle-ducks he was feeding, who squawked fearfully as he was smacked into the pond._

_Rising from the water, Zuko spat out the liquid before frowning at his sister with a newfound rage, broken from the tranquillity of his little pastime, "Hey! What was that for?!" he shouted at her, the Princess snickering at the sight of her brother, who was drenched with water, his hair messy after being swished around in the pond._

_"Oh, just to teach a little lesson." she smirked at her brother, who shook his head with near horror._

_"What kind of lesson was that?" he indicated to the pond and his clothes, looking as angry as ever; getting a rile out of her brother always seemed to put a smile on her face._

_"To always pay attention. Even when you're in the middle of your stupid little turtle-duck feedings." she mocked him, the Crown Prince crossing his arms and frowning, looking away from her._

_"You're a horrible sister." he derided her, Azula shrugging at his comments._

_"Oh, am I?" she asked him with a grin, "Would a horrible sister teach you life lessons?"_

_He glanced her way, obviously taking her question as being rhetorical, "That was a very bad way to teach me something. You could have just, you know, told me." he argued, the Princess raising a finger at him._

_"Oh, but then you wouldn't remember it as well. Who would forget getting their face slammed into a pond while feeding turtle-ducks?" she asked him, the Prince rolling his eyes and looking away from her again._

_"Nobody." he confirmed with a gruff tone, "I much prefer Uncle's proverbs. At least I get tea instead of this."_

_"I will teach you better than Uncle." she proclaimed, the Prince rolling his eyes at her._

_"You're literally eleven." he simply told her, the Princess crossing her arms at the suggestion that her age made her any less capable._

_"Well... you're only twelve." she argued, Zuko shaking his head dismissively._

_"And Uncle is a renowned General who is has a lot of experience." he noted, the Princess snickering at him._

_"I haven't given up battles like a coward." Azula derided their uncle, to her brother sighed._

_"That's not very nice of you to say." he admitted, "And plus, you've never fought in a battle, or led an army." he argued, the Princess smirking at him with a proposition in mind._

_"One day I will." she argued, "I'll conquer Ba Sing Se myself, just to show you."_  
_Her brother placed a hand over his face, obviously thinking her proposition to be quite stupendous, "Yeah, go do that." he simply told her with a doubtful voice; the two of them remained silent for a few moments, before Zuko glanced back toward the outer areas of the courtyard, "So are you going to leave, or what?"_

_She shrugged her shoulders and sat herself down by the pond, sitting herself well away from the splash she had created by knocking Zuko into the water, "I don't mind sitting around for a while. Lo and Li won't be expecting me for firebending tutoring for a while." she simply told him the truth, wanting rather to annoy her brother than hang around a bunch of old people._

_"Hmph." her brother gruffly responded, obviously jealous of her learning the more advanced sets, despite the second-hand teaching she was giving to him, even if it was just him watching her and sometimes Azula giving him some practice by beating him up for fun, "I'm still behind in my sets. Father's going to have a go at me if I don't start catching up." he admitted to his sister, who raised a brow in thought._

_"Maybe you should come along to my tutoring. I am sure that Lo and Li won't mind you sitting around to listen in- they're old and annoying, but they do teach me bending well." she suggested, the Prince raising a brow at her._

_"Aren't they non-benders though?"_

_"Doesn't make them any less capable of teaching the art." she told him flatly,_

_"Now that you say it, it is kind of weird how good they are at teaching."_

_"Well maybe. I was going to go to my own lessons, but I'm sure if I dodge one they won't mind. I can just lie and say I was feeling ill." he thought aloud, the Princess smirking at her brother's thought process._

_"Zuzu, that's a brilliant idea." she smirked at him, "Show me your best sick impression." she requested, her brother chuckling at her before seriously trying to imitate a nauseous person, making odd noises and pulling a rather dead-brained face._

_She laughed at his act and gave him a mocking clap, "Zuzu, you're actually not bad! With any time you'll be a master actor. Maybe you should join the Ember Island Players instead of becoming the Fire Lord?" she jokingly suggested, the Prince laughing along, knowing the reference to the rather horrible theatre company._

_"Over my dead body. I'd rather become a tea-server than work for those morons." he assured her, the Princess smugly looking back at him._

_"Oh, really? I thought for a moment you'd were thinking about it." she suggested, Zuko snickering at her._

_"Theatre isn't that bad a job, but they're the worst troupe in the Fire Nation, no doubt." he acknowledged, the Princess nodding along with agreement._

_"Of course; now, did you want to continue feeding your little turtle-ducks?" she mockingly him, who glanced over to the still fearful animals, which had gone well away from Azula, probably already afraid of her after how she used to treat them when she was younger._

_"No. I think I'll go with you to listen to your old tutors talk about firebending theory for a few hours." he told her with a tone of sarcasm, Azula's eyes narrowing at his description._

_"Oh, there'll be a lot more practical stuff.' she told him, Zuko's eyes widening with a slight look of fear._

_"Please don't beat me up in front of your tutors." he asked her, who raised her hands defensively, her response in a sarcastic tone that naturally fell off her tongue._

_"I wouldn't dare assault the honour of the Crown Prince."_

* * *

Standing by the door of a impoverished looking Earth Kingdom tavern, Azula sighed with a sense of annoyance; not that she hadn't made any progress in her search- she most certainly had, but finding herself covered with dust and mud purely to put character into a disguise was pushing it for her. The only sense of relief that she found was that Ty Lee hated ther disguises more than she did; the acrobat certainly wanted to be out her drab and dirty disguise back into her bright pink crop top and skirt which she adored, and the Princess could tell. Her friend's arms were crossed, and her face was full of contempt, something that was quite rare to see on such a usually cheery girl; when she thought about it, she realised it played better into their characters- who else would be more aggravated than a bunch of homeless drifters with nothing to their name but the clothes on their back.

"Keep up the good work, Ty. The grumpiness really makes your 'aura' work." she jested to her friend, who rolled her eyes before indicating to the door of the tavern.

"Urgh- are we going to go in, or what?" she questioned, the Princess shrugging her shoulders with her lips forming a small smirk.

"I don't know. We could just sit out her all day and beg like the refugees we are." she suggested, Ty Lee placing a pointing finger on Azula's sternum.

"You said we're going to do a kidnapping. Let's do a kidnapping." she told her with a voice of rather unexpectedly stern determination, which broke down into a pout as she looked down at her clothes, "And maybe get out of these awful clothes. Please."

"Love the enthusiasm." she cheered her friend on, stepping forward to open the door of the tavern, "Let's go."

Entering the tavern, the Princess glanced around, checking around the tavern; she noted a number of patrons, most of them men of a variety of ages, as well as few women and children, whose outfits made them look as poor as her disguise was meant to make her.

"What can I do for you ladies?" she heard a voice address her, the Princess turning her eyes to the bartender, a gruff looking middle-aged Earth Kingdom man, with long black hair and a receding hairline.

"We're tired from our journey, and we'd like some refreshments." she simply addressed the man, realising in her hindsight that despite her tone sounding genuine, her elocution gave her the voice of as Princess, something that she would find hard to change.

"Refreshments?" he raised a brow, "I'm assuming you don't mean water." he guessed, the Princess nodding along with his words.

"Yes, perhaps tea?" she suggested, the man glancing up and down her rather dishevelled figure.

"Do you have any money on you?" he bluntly asked her, the Princess chuckling before pulling out a few coins from her pocket; she of course decided that she would bring along some coin to actually make sure she and Ty Lee could blend in.

"This is all we have." she explained, the bartender looking at the coins in her hand, his eyes widening.

"That's going to buy you a lot of tea." he simply told her, "A lot more than we can give you; how exactly did you get that much money?" he asked her, who realised her mistake immediately; she had gotten the right kind of coins- Earth Kingdom ones that were in circulation around the entire continent, even in the Fire Nation colonies, but she had disregarded how many a refugee would carry.

"Oh, well- uh- that's none of your business." she simply told him, the man glancing at both Ty Lee and her for a moment before his eyes opened wide and he nodded, seemingly have come to a resolution.

"Oh- sorry, ladies. I- uh- didn't mean to ask about your business." he apologised, the Princess sighing with relief, although as quietly as she could, before pulling out the lowest denominator of a coin she had in hand.

"How about this?" she asked him, pushing the coin forward onto the bar; the bartender looked at it for a moment before snatching it up with his hand, nodding at her before indicating to an empty table to the right of them.

"Go sit. Your tea will be out soon- uh, what kind would you like?" he asked in clarification, the Princess shrugging her shoulders.

"What ever good kind you have. We're not too picky." she told him, Ty Lee looking as if she was about to object, but remained silent, as to stay in character.

"... Okay." he muttered with a narrowed glance, before turning around to head over to prepare the tea, leaving the two of them to walk over at take a seat at a table.

They were silent for a few moments before, Ty Lee cleared her throat, obviously wanting to make conversation rather than wait bored for their tea, "So- uh- what are we doing here?" she asked her, the vague wording reminding her that they ought to avoid mentioning their task at hand.

"I'm sure we'll learn some interesting stories. You never know what things you'll learn in a place like this." Azula remarked with a false sense of wonder, already knowing well enough the functional use of going to a tavern; she wasn't going to intimidate anyone into information on her uncle or brother, if they had any, she would play the waiting game, and see what came of it.

"Hey guys, you know those refugees who are camping around?" she her a man's voice, her eyes glancing around the room to take notice of the conversation.

"Yeah- the morons taking up all our good grazing land?" another voice spoke out, "What of 'em?" she narrowed her eyes on what seemed to be the origin of the dialogue, two young Earth Kingdom men, who wore drab loose tunics and looked a little cleaner than the refugees who sat in the tavern- farmers, she thought.

"I heard that the Blue Spirit is with 'em. You know, that crazy guy with the swords?" one of them asked his friend, the Princess furrowing a brow at the talk of a Blue Spirit.

She had heard about such a character from some military figures in the Fire Nation, but that was only gossip, and it was probably fourth-hand recountings of whatever actually happened; all she knew for certain is that he was a criminal in the eyes of the Fire Nation, and he had stolen from and harassed a number of important people- supposedly- again she had no concrete knowledge. Not that the Blue Spirit was relevant to her quest, but any fugitive was a target in her eyes- perhaps her father would appreciate the bounty on the mythic thief.

"Yeah. He's supposedly some kind of half-man, half-demon, but I don't buy that shit. I bet he's just some crazy bastard who likes swords." the other man jested, the two of them laughing.

"I wish those morons would shut up." she heard another voice, this one a lot quieter; she glanced around and noticed a refugee girl sitting with another woman, who was a fair bit older.

"Hush now- they're just angry we're here. I get it. I'm angry the Fire Nation conquered our village." she told the younger girl, Azula furrowing a brow; so the Blue Spirit really was dealing with the Fire Nation- perhaps the myth was more of a good hunting than she had originally thought.

"They're being so mean about the Blue Spirit. That guy saved us. He saved us all." she lamented, the older girl sighing.

"I know. He and those Kyoshi Warriors. They saved us all; but that doesn't mean everyone's going to like him." she consoled the other girl with a hand on her shoulder, Azula's interest rising, hearing the mention of 'Kyoshi'; she had a hunch that the Kyoshi Warriors had something to do with Kyoshi Island, which was exactly where her brother had been before their little encounter at the port.

"Kyoshi Warriors." she muttered, Ty Lee raising a brow at her, the girl's head lying in her folded arms on the table.

"What? Kyoshi Warriors? What does that have to do with anything?" she asked, the Princess smirking, the realisation dawning upon her.

"I think I just figured out the Blue Spirit's secret identity. You're never going to guess who." she suggestively told her friend, whose eyes widened.

"W-wait. You mean..." she mumbled, realising that she shouldn't ought to mention his name, leaning in closer to whisper, "Zuko is the Blue Spirit... which means he's here." she mumbled, the Princess smirking with a nod.

"Exactly. Now we just need to go figure out exactly where he is, and we can plan our next move." she explained to her friend; her bout of confidence was interrupted by the bartender showing right up at the next moment with a tray that held a teapot and two cups.

"Ahem, here's your tea, ladies." he offered them, the Princess smiling with a fake face of happiness.

"Oh, thank you. We were getting anxious about the tea." she told him with a cheery face, actually imitating what she guessed Ty Lee would look like most of the time; contrary to that imitation, her friend simply looked bored and if anything a little confused by the latest revelation.

As the bartender left them alone again, leaving the tray on the table between them, Ty Lee cleared her throat, obviously having something on her mind, "Ah, Azula. Remember how you said Zuko betrayed the Fire Nation to help the Avatar?" she asked her rhetorically, in a quiet but rather tense tone.

"Yes. I do, actually." she sarcastically remarked, her friend leaning in closer to whisper.

"The Blue Spirit has been around for a lot longer than since your brother disappeared." she explained, the Princess furrowing a brow.

"Are you suggesting my brother was already a traitor?" she asked her friend, who's eyes looked fearful as they darted away, still mulling over an answer."

"I- uh- probably." she mumbled, Azula remaining silent for a moment before sighing indicating to the teapot between them.

"This shouldn't ought to go to waste." she told Ty Lee, who nodded with agreement.

"I was going to say earlier you should have asked for jasmine tea." she explained, the Princess narrowing her eyes at the suggestion.

"Excuse me, I am not Uncle. I will not learn the specificities of tea. I will drink it purely on this occasion for gaining intelligence." she explained, her friend smirking at her words.

"Yes, intelligence." she jested, to which she sighed, realising the double meaning of what she had just said.

"That's not what I meant." she grumbled, pouring a cup for Ty Lee and pushing it toward her, indicating for her to drink, "Shut up and drink the tea. We've got to find my brother."

* * *

A tired and strained Prince Zuko wiped the sweat from his forehead, having been working straight from dawn to dusk, although he did admit, most of his 'work' simply involved him walking and carrying loads around as the refugees packed up camp and headed on eastward, continuing their march away from the Fire Nation; he hadn't seen or heard much of their activities, other than his uncle offhandedly mentioning having to be quite stealthy in leaving the mountains surrounding Omashu, which were full of Fire Nation forces. The Fire Nation military still posed an ever present threat to both the refugees and himself, and he knew that as long as they were distracted in conquering one of the last Earth Kingdom strongholds outside of Ba Sing Se that he would safe; he was relieved in knowing that he and his uncle wouldn't be forced to fight their fellow countrymen and flee from the refugees. As much as he hated all the walking and other things associated with the refugee's flight, he knew had a purpose with them; it was better to help others than be a drifter with nothing to his name but a massive bounty on his head. The refugees provided Zuko and his uncle a reasonable amount of cover, and he knew he had ulterior motives to stay; he might want to help the poor and disenfranchised people, but it wasn't out of the good of his heart. He owed his life to the Kyoshi Warriors, and not just because they dragged his unconscious body from a beach; he owed it to them for not killing him the moment they knew his true identity as the former Crown Prince of the Fire Nation.

"Pr- uh- nephew, I see you're finally at rest." he heard his uncle nearly stumble and call him Prince Zuko in public; a force of habit, but he knew that the refugees had no idea that he was a prince- only the Blue Spirit, a hero in their eyes.

"Uncle- it'd be best to just stop calling me that." he told him in a rather loud whisper, Iroh raising a brow at him.

"Uh, so you no longer identify by your title?" he asked in clarification, Zuko shaking his head with annoyance.

"No. Being a fugitive doesn't change who I am, Uncle." he simply told him, the retired general smiling at him, patting his shoulder before indicating over the large campfire that was set out in the distance.

"We're going to be getting dinner soon, will you be coming to eat?" he asked, to which the Prince chuckled, thinking about how his uncle loved to eat, though their new lifestyle meant that he wasn't likely getting as much as he was used to.

"Of course. I'm not starving myself." he dismissed his uncle's tone of concern.

"Well then, let's go." he indicated to the campfire, the Prince following with a sense of frustration; he'd much prefer to sleep, but the rational side of him demanded he eat, and another part of him, which he would rather not listen to, told him to socialise- it was like a little version of his uncle, except far more annoying, because he never left his mind.

He followed along and sat down beside his uncle amongst the refugees, looking at the campfire, which held a spit-roast across it, holding another animal that had been hunted that afternoon; Zuko had decided to remain with the group and help his uncle with tea, the warriors voicing their despair that he wouldn't be helping. He assumed that they over-exaggerated his skill in hunting; he could hit things with firebending, and use swords, but he wasn't much good at stalking animals and ensnaring them, something he found the warriors to be unusually skilled at. He assumed they practised making traps for the Fire Nation, thinking how they had so easily captured the Avatar when he came to their island. All of them seemed relatively cheery, a surprise, seeing how tired they must have been after walking all day and then going to hunt some animals. He caught eyes with Suki momentarily, his mind rushing back to the thought of their embarrassing encounter that morning, the Prince's cheeks flustering as his eyes darted away; he didn't want to think about that situation, for a number of reasons that he wouldn't want to admit.

His uncle turned to him with a smile, "Nephew, I must say, our dinner smells delicious." he piped up, the banished prince of the Fire Nation finding himself in agreement with the smell.

"Well, you're not wrong, Uncle." he admitted, before more quietly expressing a thought that popped into his mind, "I miss spicy food." he admitted, the retired general laughing and patting his belly.

"Oh what I would do for some spicy komodo rhino." he grinned, "It's been a while since I've had something as good as that." he noted, the Prince chuckling at his suggestion.

"Was the life of rice and navy rations not to your liking?" he suggested, Iroh looking at his nephew with some offense.

"I found no problem with our diet on the ship. It was a little bland, you're not wrong, but we still found the time to get some good delicacies, did we not?" he rhetorically questioned Zuko, who sighed with thought back to the odd foods his uncle had tried throughout his banishment.

"What was it last time, fried otter-penguin?" he asked his uncle, who smiled with reminisce of his last 'unusual' meal.

"Oh yes, I bought it from some funny fellows on Kangaroo Island. Supposedly came fresh from the South Pole itself." he noted, "Actually quite then interesting flavour, I must admit. You can never go wrong with trying new things, nephew."

"I'm sure that was just some rat-chicken that got deep-fried." he told his uncle with a chuckle, whose eyes widened with horror.

"I certainly hope it wasn't. That would ruin Kangaroo Island for me." he admitted, the Prince raising a brow at his uncle.

"All it had was unusual animals and some Air Nomad ruins. The ruins were far more interesting than the animals, I might add." his nephew suggested, his uncle raising a brow at him.

"Is that so, nephew?" he asked him, a smile growing on his face, although Zuko knew his intentions to be bad by the pursing of his lips, "You seem to be quite well-knowledged on the Air Nomads. One could say that you're a little obsessed with them." he suggested, the banished prince scoffing at his uncle's claims.

"Shut up, Uncle. You know the only reason I care about the Air Nomads is because of... him." he said without mentioning a name, but both of them knew exactly who he was referring to; the retired general let out a sigh, his face showing sympathy toward his nephew's plight- he was the only one who truly understood.

"Yes, nephew. I understand." his uncle conceded, knowing the Avatar to be a quite sensitive topic, one neither of them would want to discuss publicly.  
A few moments later, the refugees begun to get out of their seated positions and get in lines to get to the spit, where two of the Kyoshi Warriors were cutting off meat, although from the glare of the flames he couldn't tell which; he and his uncle followed in line toward the spit-roast, luckily getting through the line quite quickly, where Zuko realised he was being served by Amari, who cut off a piece of meat and winked at him.

"Your majesty." she mockingly deferred to him, the Prince rolling his eyes before begrudgingly nodding in thanks for her work.

"Thanks, Amari." he told her with a glint of frustration in his eyes, the girl turning to his uncle with a smile.

"Uncle Iroh, you get extra for giving me tea earlier." she proclaimed, the General grinning at her.

"Why, thank you, Amari!" he gave her a little hug, the girl chuckling along at his embrace before he took the piece of meat and followed behind Zuko, who had already begun to walk away from the spit back toward their seats away from the fire.

His uncle placed a hand on his shoulder, his face looking quite concerned; he raised a brow at Iroh, who simply cleared his throat before indicating out away from the camp, "I- uh- I need to go bathroom, nephew. But I will eat dinner, with you, don't worry." he explained himself, the banished prince sighing before shrugging off his worried tone.

"Eh, I can wait, Uncle." he simply told him, his uncle giving a curt smile before pacing off to find somewhere to do his business; he stood still for a few moments before deciding to turn around and head to where he and his uncle had been sitting.

As he turned however, he found himself face-to-face with Suki, who gave him a curt smirk, "Hi." she introduced, the Prince paling in realisation he had inadvertently been avoiding her glances when they were waiting for the food; he hoped she hadn't got the right idea clearing his throat before responding.

"Um, hi." he responded, glancing down to note a bit of food in her own hand,

"Sorry I didn't come hunting." he admitted to her, trying to direct the conversation away from the other potential topics that could have come up.

"It's not a big deal, Zuko. You like making tea anyway- you ought to be able to spend time with your uncle." she refuted his apology, making him chuckle in thought.

"Ah. Well I'll probably get sick of him again, soon enough." he admitted honestly, the head warrior snickering at the thought.

"Oh, that would be funny." she conceded after chuckling for a few moments, the Prince smiling back at her, to which she raised a brow, "So, are you okay, Zuko?" she asked him, the Prince shaking his head.

"Yes. I'm fine. Don't worry." he told her with a tense tone, seemingly giving her the opposite impression that he was trying to achieve.

"You know you don't have to worry about that whole thing." she assured him, the Prince raising a brow at her with slight confusion; if anything she thought that she would be spiteful toward him due to his invasion of privacy, but the face she held to him gave him a feeling that wasn't the case.

"W-why?" he asked her, with a slightly concerned face, the warrior smirking at him before leaning up to him, pecking him on the cheek.

"Because I know you." she told him, the Prince's eyes opening wide as he flustered red, leaning back in shock.

"Um- ah- I-" he stammered, unable to make a response.

"You look like you're having a heart-attack." she told him with a tone of amusement, Zuko stepping back for a moment.

"Um- I- uh- need to go-" he stammered once more, trying to figure out a way to excuse himself out of the publicly embarrassing situation, "I need to go toilet."

"Um..." she looked at him with slight confusion, although her eyes told him that she saw the truth- he was feeling extremely uncomfortable, "I'm guessing this is new for you." she concluded, the Prince shaking his head before beginning to pace away.

"Everything's fine. I'm just going toilet." he reinforced his previous statement, picking up pace, leaving her standing confused by the campfire; he quickly made his way back to his tent, pacing around nearby it, trying to figure out in his head what to do.

It wasn't that he didn't like Suki, he did, but her advances made him uncomfortable; Zuko didn't not like girls, but he most certainly didn't expect her to start liking him, especially after his revelation of being a Prince and firebender and having lied about it for weeks. She was pretty, he admitted to himself, but he didn't want to get all flustered over her; not when he had much more pressing issues to worry about- a part of himself raised a finger in objection, telling him that his relationship with Suki could take centre-stage in his mind because he had already found his uncle and gotten away from the Fire Nation.

His train of thought was broken by a familiar voice, "Cute girlfriend." turning his head around to find the origin of the voice he saw a refugee girl; she was dirty and dishevelled, but he grew immediately suspicious as he didn't recognise her- being around the refugees for an entire week meant even if he didn't know all their names, he could most certainly recognise one.

As she approached him, Zuko took a closer look at her face, and immediately realised that she wasn't a refugee at all; it was Ty Lee, and he had no idea what she was doing in a refugee camp, "T-Ty Lee? What are you doing here?"

"Um, well, depends on what you want to know." she suggestively told him, smiling at him, raising out two hands to suggest two ideas, "What I'm here to actually do, and what I'm appearing to do." she told him, the Prince looking on in confusion, his tense attitude heightened by the sound of another voice.

"You're scaring him." he heard his sister's familiar high and condescending voice, "Not that he shouldn't be scared. That's the whole idea, Ty." she explained, the Prince glancing at his sister, who just like her friend was wearing the clothes of a refugee, seemingly have sneaked into the campsite, the inhabitants unaware.

"What are you doing here, Azula?" he asked her with a glare, his sister shrugging with a chuckle.

"Isn't it obvious, Zuzu? We need to catch up more often."

* * *

Standing before her brother, she wanted to mock him for his reaction; whatever concerns seemed to be on his mind before she and Ty Lee revealed themselves were gone; his eyes narrowed at her, and Azula placed her hands on her hips, letting a smirk form between her cheeks as she begun to chuckle. He wasn't going to be captured, not if he had a spine, and from the sight of Zhao's face, her brother most certainly had a spine; she was to prove her father wrong, one way or another, with whatever Zuko did next.

"What happened since I last saw you?" he asked her with a suspicious but intrigued glare, the Princess chuclling at him.

"Well, if I were to be completely honest, I made the same mistake as you." she admitted, his eyes widening with fear.

"Wh-what did you do?" he asked, Ty Lee looking at her with confusion.

"Yeah, Azula. What did you do?" she questioned with an equally fearful tone, the Princess realising that she ought to have mentioned the aforementioned treachery to her friend, but she hadn't found any time advantageous to do so.

"Zhao forced my hand. I sneaked into the Fire Sage's Island Temple, where the Avatar was trying to contact his predecessor; I diguised myself and prevented Zhao from capturing the Avatar, with the help of his little friends to boot." she explained herself, her brother's jaw dropping in shock.

"Y-you what? Why?!" he asked her with horror, the Princess rolling her eyes at his reaction.

"To save your sorry arse, Zuzu." she clarified, "If the Avatar was captured then, you would never have the chance to redeem your honour."

"Yes, I understand that, but you were putting a lot more at stake there. What if father had found out?" he asked her, to which she simply scoffed, not taking his question seriously in the slightest.

"I'm no coward. If father wanted to call me out, I would simply do what would be obliged of me and duel him in an Agni Kai." she explained herself, as if her words were fact; in her eyes, they were, and Zuko's face paled in considering what she just said.

"W-wait. You're telling me that you're-" he begun, before glancing to Ty Lee, "did she say anything about this?" he asked the acrobat, who shook her head with just as much concern.

"No." she confirmed, before narrowing a glance at her, the Princess not feeling uncomfortable in the slightest by what she had told them.

"You're going to kill our father to become Fire Lord." he accused her, the Princess scoffing at the suggestion.

"No, you moron. Because no one outside of the three of us knows anything about what happened, that's not going to happen." she gritted her teeth, angered by the suggestion that she would turn against her father so willingly,

"I'm simply telling you, that if the situation was forced upon me, I would fight- unlike you." she told her brother, who looked away with shame.

"Azula, that was uncalled for; you don't have to be so mean to him." Ty Lee told her with a pout, looking at Zuko sympathetically.

"It's not mean. It's the truth." she dismissed her claims, her friend looking at her with frustration.

"We're not here to make Zuko feel bad, are we?" she asked her accusingly, the Prince raising a hand to stop either of them talking.

"Zula's right." he admitted, "It is the truth..." before he glanced at both of them with a face of determination, "I learned my lesson." he told them both, flames dancing in his hand, Azula realising that her brother's attitudes had seriously changed since he was banished; Zhao had broken a part of her brother, the part that her mother and uncle cherished and she hated- he wasn't a weak little Prince anymore- he was a man who could truly become the Fire Lord in his own right.

"Well that's good. Because I want you to come with me." Azula told her brother, Ty Lee raising a brow in confusion.

"Wait- I thought we weren't capturing Zuko?" she asked with a dumbfounded face- she hadn't been completely truthful with her friend, in the end.

"Why? Do you want to take me to father and argue for my case or something like that?" her brother asked her, Azula chuckling.

"Ah, no. Father won't see to any reasoning. He's the Fire Lord, remember." she corrected him, "I want you to come with me to the North Pole. We can capture the Avatar, and finally end Zhao, once and for all." she told her brother, whose eyes widened with shock.

"E-excuse me? I can't go with you. I'm a fugitive, remember?" he asked her, the Princess chuckling.

"You can stowaway. And when the time is right, we will reveal ourselves and the Avatar, Zhao; they'll all be done for, and we will return home as glorious conquerors and victorious with the Avatar in chains." she proclaimed, Zuko raising a hand in objection.

"Azula, I can't do-" he begun to explain himself, before he was cut off by a voice that she didn't recognise.

"The Avatar in chains?" she heard a girl's voice question, the Princess turning her head around to see a teenage girl standing before them, wearing a quite unusual outfit, something that she assumed would only belong to one of the Kyoshi Warriors that Zuko was travelling with.

"And you are?" Azula raised a brow at the girl, who pulled out two golden fans, her eyes glinting with determination.

"Someone you don't want to mess with." she told Azula, who scoffed at the attempt of intimidation she was making; she drew her body into a firebending stance, setting her hands alight with flames, with Ty Lee taking her own stance beside her.

Behind them, she could hear Zuko shouting at the girl with a fearful voice, "Suki! Run!"

Azula turned her head momentarily, before tilting it toward Suki while glancing at Ty Lee, who seemingly understood the motion; within a few seconds, Ty Lee leapt forward to attack the Kyoshi Warrior with her chi-blocking, the Princess turning around to face her brother, who drew out his swords.

"Brother, now this is what I was waiting for. A romantic twist, I must say." she smirked at her brother, whose face scowled with anger.

"We're not going to the North Pole. You're leaving. Right now." he demanded, the Princess shrugging as she indicated to the outcome of the duel behind her, knowing that she didn't even need to look to know that the thumping noise she heard was Suki falling to the ground paralysed.

"Ah! What did you do to me?!" she cried out in horror, Ty Lee chuckling at her before cartwheeling over toward the Princess, who smiled in appreciation of the acrobat's quick handiwork.

"Chi-blocking! It's fun, and it doesn't really hurt." she simply told her, before looking at Azula, giving her a wink.

"I don't think we're going to leave, Zuko. I need to make sure father knows that I'm doing my job." she told her brother bluntly, the Prince sighing before dropping his swords down.

"Fine. I see how it is." he simply told her, Azula chuckling at his reaction, before she saw sparks flying in-between his fingers; she froze momentarily before pushing Ty Lee out of the way in a frenzy of fear- she jumped out of the way, narrowing dodging the lightning bolt that spurned from his fingers in their direction, flying above their heads, the crackling sound deafeningly loud as she fell to ground.

Glancing back over toward her brother, she gasped with wide eyes, realising that her brother quite literally tried to blow her up with lightning, even if the attack was done in such a way that he was always going to miss. Pulling herself back to her feet, she looked over to Ty Lee, who looked just as fearfully as her- in the distance she could hear shouts and cries in the camp, and knew that her uncle would be showing up sooner rather than later. The Crown Princess of the Fire Nation was being outmatched by her brother, who until that point, hadn't even seemed to be a threat in terms of his firebending skill."

"Now, Zula, could you please fuck off?" he asked her, the Princess chuckling at her brother's suggestive threat; she wouldn't have usually taken such words seriously, but the anger his eyes and the feat of bending lightning he had just shown proved a point well enough.

"Well, Zuzu. I didn't ever think I was going to say this, but I'm proud of you."


	16. It's Not So Bad

_Lying on his bed, Crown Prince Zuko knew that he was bored out of his brains; he found more often than not that he was bored during the day- tutoring and firebending training only took so long, and eventually he always seemed to find himself sitting in his room. He held his dagger in his hand, twirling it between his fingers, thinking about how he ought to spend his afternoon. His uncle ought to be around somewhere, but he was guessing his sister was either at school or doing firebending training. He didn't want to go try and find her, knowing that she would likely get him in a bad mood by flaunting her firebending prowess, or some other skill that she loved to show off; he then considered his uncle, but immediately discounted him on the fact that all he would want to do was play Pai Sho and drink tea. He wasn't very good at Pai Sho, or at least his uncle was good enough there was no point trying to play, while tea just became annoying after enough appraisals- it wasn't going to heal all of his ailments, and it most certainly wasn't going to improve his bending._

_He stopped spinning the blade and glanced at its words momentarily, considering them as little wisdom to keep close to his heart; not that there was much 'fighting' for Zuko to be doing, but he knew well enough that as the heir of his father he would be expected to eventually go off to war, just like his uncle and cousin had done before him. He wasn't just any kid sitting on his bed bored, he was the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, heir to its throne and the future of his nation; he knew he ought to go do something, so at the next moment he pulled himself up from his bed, walking over to the door to open it. He quickly flung the doors open, the guards standing outside of his room looking at him awkwardly as he begun to pace himself down through the hallways of the palace; he wasn't going to idle any longer- he needed to find something worthwhile to do._

_He made his way closer to the centre of the palace, where he could see a number of men dressed in fancy uniforms walking by, talking amongst themselves as they walked down the hallway; he was confused but also intrigued by the sight- perhaps there was a meeting going on. He hadn't witnessed any of his father's war meetings in person, but from what his uncle had mentioned about them offhandedly, they were some of the most important decisions made in the nation; the entire war organised from a single hall by his father's most senior generals._

_He walked over to one of the guards standing by and raised a brow, "Excuse me, is there something going on this afternoon?" he asked in clarification, the guard clearing his throat before glancing at the number of officers walking by._

_"A war meeting." the guard simply told him, the Prince nodding before beginning to follow the high ranking officers down the hallway, intrigued by the idea of going to a war meeting; he knew he needed to learn more about his nation's affairs, and more importantly, he needed to spend his afternoon doing something other than sitting around._

_Following behind, he approached the large doors of the throne room, the Prince glancing around at the guards momentarily before approaching in line behind the officers, who took no notice of him; after a few moments, most of the men had been shuffled in, and Zuko found himself standing before the Imperial Guards, who stood in his way, not letting him pass. He scowled in frustration, and stood back for a moment, and gritted his teeth._

_"Let me in!" he demanded, the Imperial Guards not budging, a few moments later feeling a familiar grasp of a hand on his shoulder._

_"Prince Zuko, what's wrong?" his uncle asked him, the Prince glancing his uncle's way._

_"I want to go into the war chamber, but the guard won't let me pass!" he voiced his frustration, his uncle leading him away with a grasp on his shoulder._

_"You're not missing anything, trust me. These meeting are dreadfully boring." his uncle assured him; he didn't doubt that his uncle knew the ins and outs of war meetings, but he also knew he needed to start acting like an actual Prince, not just a kid who got to walk around a palace._

_"If I'm going to rule this nation one day, don't you think I need to start learning as much as I can?" he asked his uncle, who gave him a smile, seemingly proud of his attitude._

_"Very well." Iroh accepted, "But you must promise not to speak. These old folks are a bit sensitive, you know?"_

_He bowed to him respectfully, glad that he would get the opportunity he desired, "Thank you, Uncle."_

_Following his uncle into the throne room, his eyes glimmered at the sight of his father's throne, its flames rising up to ceiling, blocking off any sight of the Fire Lord, only grasping sight of his silhouette, which stood intimidatingly behind the fire. He and Iroh filed along with the other officers present, sitting themselves down near the end of the table, close to his father's throne; he tried to find a comfortable spot, but he felt so nervous._

_"Calm down, nephew. It's alright." his uncle assured him with a whisper, the Prince shaking his head._

_"I'm fine uncle. I'm just... uh- excited." he told him, his uncle giving him a curt smile before the meeting begun._

_After a few moments, one of the generals stood up, an older man, older than his uncle, with a long moustache and beard; he reminded him a little of his grandfather, but all he had ever saw of him was an old man on a throne, so he pushed that thought out of his mind._

_"Your majesty, our plans in moving toward Ba Sing Se are in motion." he begun, indicating to the large map of the Earth Kingdom that lay before them on the table, "In our path however, there is much resistance, and it is paramount that he we destroy the Earth Kingdom's defences before we can mount an attack on the impenetrable city." he expositioned, the Prince sighing in thought of what the general was explaining; he momentarily glanced at his uncle, who was showing little emotion, but he knew that the situation the general was explaining was inadvertently his uncle's fault in abandoning the six-hundred day siege of Ba Sing Se._

_The general standing continued, "The Earth Kingdom defences are concentrated here,. A dangerous battalion of their strongest earthbenders and fiercest warriors. So I am recommending the forty-first division." he explained, one of the other generals raising his voice in concern._

_"But the forty-first is entirely new recruits. How do you expect them to defeat a powerful Earth Kingdom battalion?" he asked the general, who smirked at him._

_"I don't." he stressed, before continuing, "They'll be used as a distraction while we mount an attack from the rear. What better to use as bait than fresh meat."_

_Zuko couldn't stand the words he was hearing; he remembered his uncle's advice from earlier, but pushed it out of his mind. He could not remain silent, not with so many lives at stake; the general wanted to betray the lives of all of those loyal soldiers for the sake of victory- a worthless victory in the Prince's eyes._

_"You can't sacrifice an entire division like that!" he shouted out, as he stood up, his eyes glaring at the general, "Those soldiers love and defend our nation! How can you betray them?" he asked the general, everyone in the room looking at him with fear; his eyes glanced back toward his father, whose flames heightened in what he assumed to be anger._

_"Prince Zuko!" he heard his father's voice boom, "Your challenge against General Bujing is an act of complete disrespect." he declared, the Prince turning to face the old officer with a glare of spite, "There is only one way to resolve such disrespect- an Agni Kai."_

_He looked at General Bujing and glinted his eyes with rage; he would not let the forty-first division die, not by the hands of an old callous man, "I am not afraid. I stand by my words." he declared to his father, before glancing down at his uncle, whose eyes were filled with fear; he wanted to ask him what was wrong, but he simply looked up to his father, both he and his uncle looking at the Fire Lord._

_"I am not afraid." he mumbled once more, sure of his resolve; he was Prince Zuko, and he would never give up without a fight._

* * *

The ringing sensation Zuko felt on the back of his skull drowned out all other sensations, but soon enough, the feeling of burns across his body and an inability to move his extremities became apparent; his vision was blurred, the only things he could see were the night sky above him and the occasional spurts of blue fire. He knew Azula had obviously hit him down to the ground, but his mind was clouded- he could barely move his body, let alone recollect what had just happened; it happened too fast for him to remember, the flames spitting around, each of them throwing fire at each other before he was knocked to the ground. He could hear a few familiar voices around him, but much of the sound was drowned out by the flames that continued to fly above him; blue and orange, mixing together in an artful display. It was eventually stopped by the sudden thundering of a lightning blast being fired, before the crackling boom was sent up into the sky, like a perversion of nature, the elements working around the wrong way. Finding enough strength to move his limbs once more, he pulled his head up along with his arms, trying to gain sight of what fight he was obviously missing; in front of him stood his sister and Ty Lee, who were seemingly already running away from the field, from whatever was behind him. Turning his head around he saw his defenders- the Kyoshi Warriors standing with their weapons drawn and his uncle, who was standing tall in a firebending form; his uncle offered out a hand to help him up while the warriors stood in front of them, blocking the following blasts of blue fire from Azula.

"Nephew! Can you stand?" his uncle asked him, the nearly immobile Prince nodding not because he actually believed he could, but because he wouldn't fall low enough to not even try.

"Y-yes." he muttered under his breath, as he was lifted up with his uncle's assistance, his knees wobbly as he tried to take a stance; he glanced forward and noted the protection the Kyoshi Warriors had afforded them, and clenched his fists with frustration, "We need to stop this, right now." he told Iroh, who nodded along with agreement.

"Certainly." he confirmed, the General indicating to the warriors, who moved out of the way to let the two firebenders move forward.

As they stood forward, Zuko caught eyes with his sister, who looked as confident as ever, with the agile acrobat standing by her side, ready to fight them hand-to-hand; he stepped forward and drew flames from his wrists, forming blades of fire, before glaring down his opponents. He knew his sister was only fighting him because she had to, so he didn't strike to maim or seriously injure when he threw cutting strikes of fire forward, which forced both Azula and Ty Lee back before his uncle added his own curt blasts that his sister struggled to disperse. Throwing more blasts and strikes at their opponents, both they and the warriors begun to approach the clearly outnumbered and perhaps outmatched Princess and her ally; much to his frustration, by the time they got close enough to them to actually hit them, his sister made a massive wall of fire that knocked them all back, and by the time it was dispersed by he and his uncle's collective bending, their opponents had vanished into the darkness of the night.

A few moments after, he grunted in pain, realising the extent of his injuries, falling to one knee; his uncle grabbed him by the shoulder, looking fearful for his health, "Zuko. You need to rest." he advised the Prince, who gave a pained nod before he fell onto his side, wincing from the fall, but feeling relieved that he wouldn't have to stand any longer.

"'Proud of me'" he quoted his sister's words which he distinctively remembered before they had begun to duel, the battle which he assumed he lost badly, feeling the pain across his body.

"I am proud of you, nephew." Iroh assured him, the Prince shaking his head.

"No, that's what she said." he told his uncle, who raised a brow at him.

Zuko tried to pull himself back up, knowing at the very least he needed to be certain that Azula wasn't going to return to try and fight some more; he knew why she had come, but he most certainly didn't want to have to fight her, not when the lives and freedom of the Kyoshi Warriors and his uncle were on the line.

They gathered around him, who glanced at their worried faces, "I'm- I'm okay, guys." he stressed to them as he tried to turn his body over as to lie on his back.

"No, you're not." he heard Amari's familiar voice, although in the given context, it was far more assuring than annoying for him to hear.

He felt his uncle hold him by the shoulder, and his raspy but calm voice assured him that they weren't fighting any longer, "Nephew, let's get you to your tent." he told him, the Prince nodding before his uncle grabbed him by the left arm, while Amari grabbed his right, lifting him up and taking him toward his tent, which was thankfully still standing despite the spouting of fire that occurred.

Glancing around he saw a number of refugees looking on in shock at the sight of what had happened; he could have sworn he heard gasps and whispers, but he didn't pay much attention to them as he was taken over to his tent. Despite his glances around, he couldn't make sight of Suki, who he had fought to protect from Azula after Ty Lee paralysed her with chi-blocking; he wanted to make sure she was alright, but he couldn't do much but groan in pain as he was taken into his tent, his uncle laying him down on his sleeping roll.

"Wh-where's Suki?" he asked his uncle and Amari, who both looked at each other momentarily before the Kyoshi Warrior indicated to behind her.

"She's- uh- a little shocked after what happened." she explained herself, the Prince nodding before lying back, wincing in pain from the burns across his chest.

"Nephew, don't worry about her. She'll be fine. Just rest." his uncle assured him, the Prince making an effort to smile at his uncle, grabbing his forearm.

"'A man needs his rest'." he quoted the man before him, who chuckled before stepping up.

"Goodnight, nephew. We'll make sure nothing else happens. Your sister isn't going to hurt anyone else." the retired general explained, the Prince sighing with relief as his lips formed a small smile.

"Yes." he simply responded, before he let himself rest, his eyes straining as he pulled them close, knowing that if anything was going to help it, it would be a good night's rest.

* * *

The smell of a fresh boiling pot of tea made Iroh smile, knowing that his nephew would at the very least, find some comfort from his injuries through the calming concoction; that was one of the things he most appreciated about 'the new Zuko', as he had come to mentally associate with his nephew. He wasn't that different, if the old general was to be completely honest to himself, and truly, the Prince had shaved off the worst of his traits- he wasn't always angry and frustrated, and if anything he had grown in more ways than just his taste for tea. He loved his nephew, no matter if he was an angry teen or not, and he was most certainly proud of his actions; he had defended the refugees against his sister, and had protected his friends before his own safety, something that he found very admirable. Iroh wished that he had had the opportunity to act so selflessly, but he knew he would rather avoid such dangerous situations; he knew though that when the time came, he ought to act just as Zuko had, without restraint for the sake of his beloved nephew. He had nearly lost him before, and he would not lose him again.

He breathed in the aroma of the freshly brewed tea and stood up from his own seat outside by the campfire, where some of the refugees were sitting around eating breakfast; they had been avoiding him, but he understood why well enough- he was Fire Nation after all, and he was sure that a number of them had witnessed what had happened. He didn't want to be hated, but he knew the war well enough; it created a fear so deep in one's gut that you could never avoid it. It was ever present in his own mind, and his son's death five years prior had been the thing that had made him truly understand that feeling; he knew their pain, perhaps not in the same way, but he understood it nonetheless. As he sat by his lonesome, he heard a cough sound behind him; he glanced back to see Suki, the head of the Kyoshi Warriors, standing without her uniform, looking at him with a somewhat conflicted face.

He introduced himself, not wanting to be rude, "Good morning, Suki."

She gave him a curt smile and walked over to sit beside him on the log upon which he sat, "Hi." she simply responded, the General glancing at her with thought.

"Are you feeling better, after last night?" he asked her, the girl looking over to the refugees with a face of relief.

"We won. That's what counts, doesn't it?" she asked him, her tone making her sound as if she doubted the truth in her own words.

"Perhaps. But what truly matters is what is in our hearts. One can win a battle but lose much more than what they might have physically." he told her, speaking truly from experience; he saw that she understood the truth and bluntness of his words, smiling at him bittersweetly.

"Have... have you seen him?" she asked the General, who sighed, shaking his head, thinking to the drained state he saw Zuko in last.

"He wasn't awake when I checked in on him. I made this pot of tea just for him, to help him wake up and get a little better." he explained, the girl smiling along at his suggestion.

"He does like his tea." she acknowledged, "I heard something, last night. A few things actually."

Iroh furrowed a brow, "Ah, yes. My niece, she is a finicky one." he noted, the head warrior shaking her head.

"No. Zuko- his quest was to capture the Avatar, wasn't it?" she asked him with a fearful tone, the retired general's eyes widening in realising what her intonation meant- she didn't know about the Avatar and his quest until last night.

"Yes. He was banished by his father and was sent to capture the Avatar, that was the only way he could return." he simply explained, the warrior sighing with a sense of doubt.

"I- I don't know how to feel anymore. I feel like I don't know who he is." she admitted, the old general smiling at her.

"He hasn't changed. He didn't leave with my niece to go capture the Avatar, did he?" he asked her, the Kyoshi Warrior shaking her head.

"No, he didn't. But I'm afraid. In hindsight it seemed like he was really angry when the Avatar came to Kyoshi Island, and now that I think about it, he could have tried to fight Aang." she explained, Iroh nodding along with understanding, having heard from Aang, Sokka and Katara about his nephew helping them.

"Yes, he could have. But he didn't. Zuko isn't defined by his quest, and that's a good thing." he admitted, "I don't know what he would have done, but I know that my nephew is a man of honour. He would have never wronged you, especially after having saved him."

"Really?" she asked him, who placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Yes, I trust Zuko. I just hope that you can too." he gave her a smile, the warrior's face losing its tenseness as her lips curled into a curt smile.

"Thank you, Iroh." she simply thanked him, before glancing down to his pot, "Would you mind if I gave him the tea?" she asked, the retired general raising a brow in interest before deciding to not ask for her motivations.

"Of course. He was asking about you before he passed out last night- I'm sure he will be happy to see you." he offered the girl, who simply gave him a cringed smile.

"Aha- I'm sure he will."

* * *

Suki breathed in deeply, not knowing what would happen when she entered Zuko's tent; she knew she shouldn't be angry with him, not after personally defending her and stopping his sister from attacking their encampment, but she had heard the truth- and the truth, it always seemed to hurt. First she found out he was a firebender, a big enough shock in itself, only to find out from the words of Zuko's supposed arch-nemesis his true identity as a banished prince; all of that was in the past, but the pain of the lies returned when she heard of his true goal- the thing she had offered to help him do, now knowing what it was, made her gut wrench in disgust. He was supposed to go and capture the Avatar, the young airbender the village had taken care of all while the banished prince did chores, served the boy and his friends food. She felt a little pity for how the Prince must have felt, having his goal literally within an arms reach but with no way to do anything about it; that little pity was nothing to the anger she felt- the Avatar was meant to bring balance to the world, and the banished prince was on a quest to make sure that could never happen- everything he was doing that was good was hypocrisy in the end. He came to help the refugees, but was planning to make their efforts fruitless by capturing the Avatar and depriving them of the hope they needed. She gritted her teeth, but refused to try and shout at Zuko, who she hadn't even bared eyes upon; no matter how she felt about his quest, she was sure he was trying to do the right thing- if he wasn't, he would have gone with his sister instead of fighting her.

Opening the tent's fabric openings, she saw the Prince splayed across his bedroll, "Uncle?" she heard him murmur, his eyes closed but clearly awake, "Tea..." he mumbled, the warrior noting the teapot that she held in her hand- she was coming to give Zuko tea, not berate him about his quest for the Avatar.

"Yes, there's tea." she confirmed, the Prince's eyes immediately opening wide upon hearing her speak.

"S-Suki?!" he exclaimed with surprise, "You're okay." he gave her a smile of relief, the warrior raising a brow at his rather surprised look.

"Uh, yeah. I'm fine." she told him, knowing that wasn't a complete truth- she was physically fine, but she knew that she wasn't fine emotionally.

"I- uh- I'm sore- all over." he admitted, the warrior chuckling at his rather astute observation.

"I'm not surprised. You took quite the beating." she acknowledged, pouring him a tea-cup as he sat himself up on the bedroll, "Here, drink this. Your uncle made it for you." she explained, the Prince smiling as he took the cup into his hands.

"Thanks... uh- but why did you come to give me the tea?" he asked her, the warrior sighing, knowing that she couldn't avoid the thing that was on her mind.

"You're hunting the Avatar." she bluntly told him, Zuko nodding without any look of remorse.

"Yes. Capturing him is the only way I can get home." he explained to her, which made her eyes narrow at him with anger.

"So that's it then?" she asked him, "You're just going to capture the Avatar, and betray everything you've been trying to achieve just so you can become a prince again?" she asked him, the Prince spurting tea out of his mouth, unable to respond, her suspicions seemingly confirmed.

"I knew it." she narrowed her eyes at him, "Do you really think you can do that with a clear conscious?" she asked him, whose head dropped down shamefully.

"I- I have to. Because of what happened." he told her, to which she raised a brow.

"What happened?" she asked him, glaring at him with suspicion, unsure what he was actually trying to say.

"The reason I was banished. I spoke out against a general's plan, when he planned to have an entire division of Fire Nation soldiers be used as bait, to die on the battlefield for nothing." he explained, before touching the scar on his left eye, "A-and... and then my father did this to me." he furthered, his voice tense and pained, Suki dropping down onto one knee and she looked closer to him.

"I can't let all of those soldiers have died for nothing." he told her with a determined voice, the warrior grabbing him by the shoulder, realising what he was trying to tell her.

"Zuko, how can you capture the Avatar after that? How can you serve your father if he did that to you?" she asked him with a fearful tone, actually scared by the idea of what had actually transpired, a father burning his son's face for speaking out.

"Because it's the only way. I can't right my wrongs, I can't fix my life if I'm banished." he explained to her in pained, and seemingly angry tone, although the anger wasn't directed at her.

"There's another way." she simply told him, her eyes narrowing at him; she knew that Zuko was determined to do what was right, but he was confining himself to a box by binding himself to his quest.

"Another way?" he questioned, the warrior pointing her index finger onto his chest.

"You become Fire Lord." she simply told him, the Prince's eyes widening with shock.

"Wh-what?" he gasped, seemingly unable to comprehend her suggestion.

"You're the son of the Fire Lord- what happens if you defeat him?" she asks Zuko, who shook his head in denial.

"No- I'm not doing that." he simply dismissed her offer, Suki gritting her teeth in frustration.

"Then what? Are you just going to let him continue the war? Continue all of this shit that keeps happening?" she asked him, the Prince shaking his head.

"I can't defeat him." he simply told her, "I'm not good enough. He would kill me if I even tried, and that's if I tried."

She placed a hand on his shoulder, "Then what about Aang? What if he defeats your father?" she asked him, to which his eyes widened, as if a thought dawned upon him.

"Even if he could, the entire Fire Nation isn't going to stop fighting, and my sister would be Fire Lord." he told her, whose eyes narrowed at him.

"Well then, Zuko. What do you propose we do?" she asked him, the Prince sipping from his teacup.

"I never said I agreed to this." he grumbled at her, the warrior raising a brow at him.

"Then well, do you agree to becoming Fire Lord in the name of fixing this shitty world?" she asked him, the Prince sighing before giving her a begrudged glare.

"I- I have to." he admitted, "M-my... she would have wanted me to." he told her with a saddened tone.

"She?" Suki raised a brow, looking at his sad face, seeing a few tears fall from his eyes; she grabbed him by the shoulder, "Zuko, what's wrong?"

"My mother. She disappeared when I was little, and I still don't even know if she's alive." he told her with a cringed face of despair that formed a small smile as he continued, "I just- I just want to make her proud."

She grabbed him and pulled him in for a hug, not wanting to make him feel any sadder, knowing she was at fault for bringing out his pain, "It's okay." she assured him, "You're going to make her proud, I'm sure." she assured him, the Prince giving her a chuckle.

"I- I hope I do." he confirmed, "T-thanks, I haven't talked to- uh- anyone about this." he admitted to her, the girl giving him a smile, knowing how hard it must have been for him to speak about it.

"You didn't have to." she admitted to him, "But I'm glad you did. I feel like there is nothing left between us- no lies, no mysteries." she told him, the Prince looking at her with a blush.

"Well, I- uh- didn't really want to have to explain everything." he told her, who placed a finger on his lips to shut him up.

"You don't know when to shut up." she chided him with a chuckle, before kissing him on the lips, the Prince jutting back for a moment before accepting her small gift of embrace; after a few moments, her lips parted from his own and she smiled.

"Thank you. I hope that made you feel a little better after I interrogated you." she chuckled, the Prince shrugging his shoulders, pulling his teacup up to his mouth.

"Y-yeah... it did. Thanks for you tea, also." he acknowledged after sipping some of the aromatic liquid, "You should really try some yourself- my uncle makes it the best."

"Amari wouldn't shut up about it yesterday." she noted, recalling the warrior's newfound adoration of Zuko's uncle and his tea, "I guess I can have a try- I really ought to be working on breakfast." she admitted, the Prince indicating out the tent.

"Let me get some bandages over my chest and I'll go help." he offered, the warrior sighing at his rather determined behaviour.

"You really don't have to. You've done enough, I'm pretty sure none of us got set on fire yesterday, and it's all thanks to you." she congratulated him, the Prince waving off the praise.

"I did what I had to. My sister doesn't understand, and I had to make her." he explained his actions the night prior, the warrior nodding with appreciation of his handiwork.

"The lightning was pretty cool, I must admit, although it was hard to see when I was paralysed." she noted, before Zuko raised a finger.

"That was the chi-blocking I was talking about." he noted, "Amari said she wanted to learn that, didn't she?" he asked, the head warrior nodding with annoyance.

"Now after seeing it in action she'll probably demand I try and replicate the attacks." she acknowledged with annoyance, knowing how her friend could get.

"Well, before she decides to annoy us to no ends," he begun, pointing over to the teapot, "get yourself some refreshments." he smiled at her, the warrior grabbing the pot and pouring herself a cup; smelling the freshly brewed liquid she couldn't help but smile.

"It's not so bad."

* * *

"I have never felt so happy to be wearing my own clothes in my life."

Azula snickered at Ty Lee's spoken thoughts as she pranced about the carriage of the tank-train, showing off her bright pink outfit in contrast to the dull and dirty peasant's disguise she had been forced to wear when they were sneaking into the refugee camp.

"I must say, pink does suit you far better than those disgusting clothes you were wearing before." she acknowledged with a smirk, the acrobat doing a cartwheel before grinning at her, sitting down beside her on the small lounge upon which she had been resting; she was feeling quite pained from the brawl she had with Zuko, although she could confidently say she was the victor, even if her brother's little girlfriends were able to force her and Ty Lee to run away.

"How about you? Are you liking to be back in the comfort of your own clothes?" she asked the Princess, who sighed at her question.

"Honestly, I'd prefer to be in bed, but I have to make more plans." she acknowledged, reminding herself of the task ahead; even if Zuko didn't join her to head to the North Pole, she would still go nonetheless and defend the honour of the banished prince who had the night prior nearly killed her with a spectacularly surprising use of lightning-bending.

"The North Pole." her friend noted with a slight aversion, her eyes giving Azula the indication that she was thinking about what she had be asking her brother to do.

"Yes. Its going to take me a few weeks to get there, but once I do, I will finally be able to finish what Zuko started. I've been waiting patiently for the right opportunity; Zhao will believe that he has attained his greatest victory, and I will steal it from him.

"What if the Water Tribes win?" she asked the Princess, who simply shrugged her shoulders.

"That's a non-issue. If the Avatar wants to stop the invasion with his wishy-washy Avatar-powers, but I will be sure to make sure he pays the price for it." she told her friend with a ruthless smile, making Ty Lee inch back with discomfort.

"You're going to kill him?" she asked her, to which she shook her head.

"Killing the Avatar would make the situation worse. They would be reborn in one of the Water Tribes, and then we would have to completely destroy both of the tribes to be sure we got rid of the next Avatar." she explained her thoughts, before raising a finger to her chin, "Not that it would matter anyway. My father will end the war when Sozin's Comet returns- there's no way the Avatar is going to stop the Fire Nation now." she admitted with a chuckle, considering it nigh impossible for the Avatar to win, only being a child with no understanding of the true power the Fire Nation could unleash upon- one can only dodge and evade for so long.

"So what then, will you capture him?" she asked with interest, the Princess furrowing a brow.

"It's too risky at the North Pole, with all the waterbenders around, and the chance that he goes into the Avatar State." she explained, Ty Lee looking dumbfounded by what she was saying, "The Avatar State's when his eyes glow and he goes crazy powerful with his bending. I saw it at the Fire Temple when Avatar Roku used the Avatar's body to destroy the temple. Lava-bending, firebending, it was amazing to see, if I must admit." she explained, her friend gasping.

"Wow! That sounds crazy. To think that a kid could bend all four elements." she told her with a shocked tone, the Princess shrugging.

"I'm pretty sure the last airbender can only properly bend air, and that's why it's important to keep him out of the Avatar State." she explained with a rather nonchalant tone, before raising a hand, "I did a lot of reading about this on the off-chance needed to help my brother in his quest, which as it turns out, I am." she conceded, knowing that she ought to defend her image as the serious, all-powerful Princess Azula, and not some kind of nerd who learned about the Avatar as a hobby.

"So... that's it then. You're going to the North Pole." Ty Lee murmured, looking saddened that they would soon be parting ways.

"I'm sure we'll see each other again. I'll still have to get Zuko back to the Fire Nation after all of that." she acknowledged, the acrobat smirking.

"Oh, yes. Get Zuko and his little girlfriend." she jested, the Princess chuckling at her joke.

"Very funny, Ty Lee. I'm sure he's so smitten with a girl he'll betray the Fire Nation for real." she joked, before Ty Lee coughed and cleared her throat, giving her an odd look.

"Azula. You know that might actually happen, right?" she asked her, the Princess laughing off the suggestion.

"My brother is a moron, but he won't just betray the Fire Nation. When he gets the chance, he will come home a hero, trust me." she dismissed the idea, the acrobat's eyes fluttering in theorising the potentials.

"Oh, it's so romantic! And cute!" she grinned, "Didn't you see them kissing? It took my breath away. This is Zuko, your awkward, kinda whiny big brother who can't talk to anyone without being angry or shy." she told the Princess, who smugly looked back at her thought.

"My 'big brother' is finally becoming a man. Perhaps in the most treacherous and frustrating way possible, but a man nonetheless."


	17. Bloody Hunger

_The Dragon of the West was just trying to get to sleep, but he felt restless; he enjoyed the crew's music night, but the retired general became concerned when he realised Zuko had left the ship while they were in port. He knew that his nephew would likely be fine, being old enough to handle whatever ruffians came his way at the rather dodgy Earth Kingdom port they had found themselves at; he would have preferred if he had joined them in their performance instead of going off into town. He assumed that his nephew had come back while they had been playing, but when he came to check on the Prince before he went off to bed, he was confused to realise that Zuko was no where to be seen- and if he wasn't in his room, then he was most likely doing something in the town, what that was he had no idea. He considered perhaps his nephew going into town to search for things about the Avatar, but Iroh knew that there was no chance they'd find anything about the Avatar in a random Earth Kingdom port when the last airbender had supposedly been in hiding for the past hundred years. Avatar or no Avatar, Iroh knew that his nephew as up to something, although he knew he shouldn't intrude to much- the Prince deserved an ounce of privacy, knowing that he didn't get much locked up on a ship with the same people for two and a half years._

_Suddenly however, Iroh heard the creaking noise of the brig door opening, signalling that his nephew had indeed returned; the retired general rose from his bed, knowing that he needed to check if it was truly Zuko, feeling uncertain as to whether it was just a crew member going toilet or something of the likes. He pulled his legs off the bed and stretched out, yawning as he tried to get himself properly awake; rising to his feet, the retired general tiptoed his way to his door, moving it slightly ajar to check out and see for his nephew's presence, seeing the teen boy standing wearing all black, not his usual armour, and holding something in his hands, although he couldn't tell what due to the darkness. Zuko noticed after a moment that his uncle was looking at him, and jumped back in realisation, his rising right hand revealing what he was holding; it was an old theatre mask, one that he could remember being from the play 'Love Amongst the Dragons'._

_"Argh!" he muffled a shout, "Uncle! What are you doing up?" he questioned the tired general, who raised a brow at him._

_"I could ask you the same thing, nephew." he admitted, the Prince looking away with him, as if he felt shameful._

_"I'm sorry for going out, Uncle. I needed to... I needed to do something." he explained, the retired general muffling laughter._

_"What? Did you join a theatre troupe?" he asked the Prince, indicating to the mask in his hand._

_"What?! No!" he shouted, Iroh hushing his rather loud nephew with his finger to his mouth, reminding him that the other crew members were trying to sleep, "S-sorry." he apologised, "I was- uh- doing things."_

_"That much is obvious, Prince Zuko." he chuckled, "Why did you need a mask?" he asked him, to which he responded by clearing his throat._

_"I- uh- can't let anyone see me." he explained, the retired general narrowing his eyes with suspicion._

_"Why would you need to disguise yourself? Were you trying to get information for your quest?" he asked his nephew, who shook his head, almost in disappointment._

_"No- this has nothing to do with finding the Avatar." he clarified, "I was doing... un-princely things."_

_"Un-princely? Were you doing illegal, bad things?" he asked him, to which he shook his head._

_"I wasn't doing bad things." he argued to his uncle, before stepping further down the hallway, glancing back him, "I was doing... things that I can't be seen doing."_

_"If they're not bad, then why can't you tell me?" he asked the Prince, who simply shook his head._

_"I don't want to involve you in this uncle. I just want to go to bed." he explained, before walking down the hallway, the retired general noticing a limp in his nephew's step._

_"Did you hurt yourself?" he asked Zuko, who stopped momentarily glancing down at his leg, before he shook his head in dismissal._

_"No. I'm fine, Uncle." he assured him, before he walked down the rest of the hallway to his quarters, opening the door and glancing back him, "Goodnight, Uncle." he farewelled, to which he smiled back at his nephew._

_"Sleep well." he indicated back to his nephew with a curt wave of his hand, before the Prince closed his door, leaving Iroh utterly confused; he had no idea what Zuko was actually doing disguised with a theatre mask, but he could guess._

_Prince Zuko wanted to be the prince his father demanded him to be, but he also had another side to him, the reckless and secretive side; he was no Azula, but the young Prince had his own dark shades, and he obviously didn't want his uncle to know about them. The mask from the theatre reminded him distinctively of the Prince's childhood, where his family would go to the play that mask was from, something he had heard him offhandedly mention before his banishment; the mask perhaps represented more to his nephew than just a stage character, but the childhood and mother that he had lost. He smiled and thought hopefully as to what could come of his nephew's sneaking around and disguises, and the future he desired for him._

_"I'll get through to him, eventually."_

* * *

Zuko had personally never appreciated the fact that he found his stomach full at the end of each day, but now as he continued the long eastward march with the refugees, he realised what hunger truly meant; he and the Kyoshi Warriors had scraped together enough of a hunting the night prior to feed the refugees and themselves, but only scarcely. He was glad to know that at the very least they still had enough water to drink amongst themselves, having filled their leather water-skins the the brim at the last river they crossed, but the lack of food was getting to him. Their money wasn't much good when there was no where to buy food; they had left the comfort of the woodlands, trekking into hot, dry country that seemed to go on endlessly, straddling the mountains on one side and the Si Wong Desert on the other. His uncle was faring worse than he was, already giving up his own rations the night prior; an honourable act, but it didn't help him when they had not much more but more dry brush in sight. The Kyoshi Warriors had stripped down from their armour, wearing only their loose blue tunics, which were better at keeping them cool than the heavy green dresses they wore with metal plates; they were doing worse than Zuko and Iroh, constantly drinking water. He couldn't imagine how the refugees were feeling, especially the children, but he knew they had to keep going, reminding himself that they would certainly run into some kind of civilisation eventually. The last village they came across was two days prior, and that one was small and poor, not offering much food to trade but some dried meat and bread; their last kill wasn't even that good, some kind of deer that was skinny and ran around fast, remembering that the warriors had been forced to make a complicated and obscure trap to ensnare the finicky animal. The thought of eating some of that animal's meat made him more hungry, so he forced the thought of it out of his mind, focusing on keeping up his strides as he led one of the ostrich horses along, Uncle walking along beside him, his face obscured by a wide straw hat.

"Uncle, how much longer do you think we can keep this up. We're all tired and hungry." he admitted, Iroh sighing with a sense of frustration which the Prince wholly agreed with.

"Not much longer, nephew. There's only so far we can go; I'm sure if we headed into the mountains we could find some food." he explained, his nephew shaking his head.

"We have to keep on path though, if we go into the mountains, who knows what we'll find there." he admitted, "We don't know this country." he told his uncle with all honesty, making the tired and hungry man sigh with defeat.

"You're right, nephew. We must push on." he agreed, the two of them continuing their arduous march, following in line with the rest of the group.

"There!" Zuko could hear a voice call out, glancing forward he recognised it as that of Esumi, who was standing by the precipice of the hill they had been walking up, "A village!" she exclaimed, the Prince's eyes brightening up with hoe; at the very least it was unlikely they would be starving for much longer.

Leading the ostrich-horse up to the top of the hill, he stood beside the Kyoshi Warriors, who were avidly glancing around the valley before them, where in the centre a small, dusty village sat; he sighed at the sight of it, knowing that it was probably as poor or poorer than the last village they had visited. He was unsure if the war had caused the poverty he saw before him, or just an unfavourable climate; glancing at the warriors, who all looked as tired and hungry as himself, he indicated down to the village.

"We should try and buy some food." he told them, Nakata looking at him with a grimace.

"Are they even going to be selling anything? These people look like they don't even have any farms." she acknowledged, the Prince shrugging.

"Hopefully they have some livestock. Maybe more dried meat, as bad as it might taste." he acknowledged, Suki glancing at him with an averse face.

"We should set up camp nearby- the warriors can go set up some traps up in the hills." she explained, the Prince nodding, noting his uncle's appearance by his side.

"How will you feed all these people?" he questioned her, the warrior narrowing her eyes at the village.

"How about, you, Zuko and some of the refugees go into the village and ask around for food; maybe they'll be willing to trade some chores for a little food?" she asked, the General nodding and indicating to his nephew.

"That's a good idea. Nephew, let's go at once, I don't think I can stand still with my stomach grumbling as it is." he complained to Zuko, who rolled his eyes before nodding in agreement, handing the lead of the ostrich-horse to Suki.

"I agree. I'm sure you guys can handle everything." he noted to the warriors, who smirked on confidently with the respect he had given them.

"Of course. We're the Kyoshi Warriors." Amari proudly declared, earning a snicker from the Prince.

"Yes, off course." he snidely confirmed her, indicating for his uncle to follow him as he began walking toward the village, before raising his hand, "I need some of you to come to the village and help us get some food." he asked out, the refugees looking at him with slight aversion; he couldn't blame them, knowing that they could only see him as a firebender.

A few of the refugees, all of them young to middle aged men walked along behind them, the Prince chuckling at the thought that the men were being delegated to do all the heavy lifting; not that he had a problem with doing so, knowing that he would finally get some food, and hopefully good food at that. Walking down into the village, Zuko and his uncle walked in file with the refugees trailing behind, glancing around at the village before him; it was filled with poorly constructed wooden buildings, with not that many civilians walking around, most of them old or children- he wasn't surprised by that, knowing that most of the young men would be away fighting in the war, just like it was in his nation.

"Nephew, I don't think we're going to find much food here." he admitted, the Prince sighing with frustration before tapping his knapsack.

"We have money. Surely they'll be persuaded, at the very least we need something; hunting isn't going to feed us all, and it's harder to hunt on a empty stomach." he admitted, his uncle chuckling at the suggestion.

"Oh, so we're feeding the Kyoshi Warriors so they can feed the rest of us?" he asked in clarification, making Zuko roll his eyes.

"No, Uncle. Everyone will get their share." he explained, the Prince turning around the the refugees behind him, "All of you. We need to find places that will sell us food, and maybe some feed too for the animals." he explained the refugees nodding at him, a number of them walking off in other directions to look around the village while Zuko and Iroh continued on forward to enter the village proper, a few refugees tailing on behind.

Making their way into the village, Zuko noted a group of Earth Kingdom soldiers sitting by a table gambling, causing a bit of ruckus, although he paid little attention to them, he and his uncle striding over toward a shop that looked like it would sell food; he leaned in toward the counter, the clerk coming out to glance at him, noting that his arrival.

"We're travelling with some refugees, and we need to buy some food for our travels." he explained, indicating to the bag of coin that he had, knowing that he would be able to buy a fair bit of food if push came to shove; the bag he held was meant to feed him and Kyoshi Warriors for at least a few months, but he knew that he could spare a month if he wanted the refugees to be well fed.

"Huh, that's a lot of coin." the clerk admitted with some surprise.

"There's a lot of us." he simply told him, the clerk nodding at him.

"We have some dried meats and some vegetables; maybe not as much as you'd like, but it's all we have here." he explained, the Prince looking down with a sense of disappointment, his uncle placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Anything is good enough." the retired general addressed the clerk, before Zuko handed him some of his coins.

"Is this enough?" he asked, the clerk nodding.

"That'll be our stock; you mightn't be able to carry it all." he admitted, the Prince indicating to the refugees who stood loitering behind him down the street, "Ah, I see. Well, give me a few moments."

Zuko glanced back momentarily noting the soldiers looking at him and his uncle, the Prince sighing with annoyance; he didn't want to have to deal with Earth Kingdom soldiers, especially when the refugees he was travelling with explicitly knew hew as a firebender- one little slip up, and he might find himself getting thrown in a jail-cell even shitter than the village in which he found himself in. The clerk returned a few moments later with a few bags of food, heaving some of them through the window of his shop, the Prince grabbing some and placing them down at his feet, indicating over to the refugees with a wave, most of which still looked at him with supsicion, but followed his directions nonetheless.

"Thanks." he indicated to the clerk, before he suddenly saw a man standing beside him grabbing at one of the bags; it was one of the Earth Kingdom soldiers.

"We'll be taking our war-taxes. The army thanks for your contribution to the war effort." he snidely told the Prince, whose eyes opened wide at what he was seeing; the soldier chuckled at his reaction, "This is how it works kid. You and your little friends better leave place soon." he advised Zuko, who begun to boil with anger at the soldiers actions; he was essentially stealing the food of a bunch of starving refugees, many of them old and children.

"You can't do that. These people are starving." he exclaimed, the clerk looking at him with shock, as if he had said the wrong thing; it was the right thing, and the Prince, no matter how much people would call him a coward and a traitor, would never dishonour himself again.

"You better watch your mouth kid, before I shut it forcefully." the soldier glared at him, his comrades standing up and looking at Zuko and Iroh menacingly.

"Uh, we were just leaving, weren't we nephew?" his uncle asked him, to which he glared silently, before walking over to the refugees, pointing accusingly at the soldiers.

"These bastards are stealing the food that will feed your children, your parents, your wives. Are you just going to let them do that?" he asked them, the refugees shaking their heads, growing angry and frustrated, adding upon the emotions they were feeling from hunger; he turned around and faced the soldiers, "You just made a big mistake." he simply told the soldiers, who beared their weapons, their leader pulling up a pair of hammers, weapons he recognised in being used for earthbending.

"Let's teach this boy a lesson." the head soldier told his men, before racing forward to attack Zuko, who quickly drew out his dao, striking at his opponent's hammers to fling it back, while his comrades surrounded the Prince; the leader threw his weapon at the ground, using earthbending to strike him off his feet, flinging him backward, where he lay prone, moments away from being struck again. He rolled out of the way of the next attack, using his swords to cut the end of spear thrusted at him by one of the soldiers; he soldier cowered back in fear before Zuko used his agility to move out of the way of the next earthbending attack, before he found a hand on his shoulder. Glancing up he noted one of the refugees, who had a rather angry expression, indicating to the soldiers with a glare.

"Let's get 'em, boys." he rallied his fellow aggrieved refugees, with the group charging toward the soldiers, swarming the spear-wielding ones while the earthbender stepped back fearfully as his men were swamped by the angry refugees.

As the groups clashed, Zuko approached the leading soldier, who stood with his hammers still in hand, ready to earthbend; the Prince dodged his first attack of throwing rocks, before cutting the next rocks he threw at him. The soldier became more aggravated as his opponent was able to cut back his bending attacks, before he jumped forward and kicked the man in the chest, throwing him to the ground.

"Argh!" the man shouted, before sending his weapons into the ground in a rush of rage; the force of the earthbending attack, threw Zuko off his feet, his swords falling out of hand.

For a few moments, his eyes opened wide as the angry soldier prepared to strike him again with his earthbending, pulling up a large rock; before he could even react, the soldier was struck in the head by a rock, the Prince turning his head around to see his uncle standing in form, smirking at his own handiwork.

"Thanks, Uncle." he admitted, pulling himself up as he recollected his thoughts, focusing more so on the refugees that were brawling the non-bending soldiers; he grabbed one of the soldiers and threw him to the ground, shouting with as much gusto as he could, "Get out of here!" he demanded, the soldiers cowering fearfully and running off, the refugees beside themselves with pride in having beaten up all of the soldiers.

Hearing a groaning noise behind him, the Prince glanced back to see the leader of the heinous soldiers, who gave him a scowl as he tried to get back up, "You little shit. I'm going to make sure you pay for that." he exclaimed, to which Zuko simply pulled out his dagger, glancing momentarily back at the men behind him.

"Oh, really?" he mockingly asked the soldier, as he was surrounded by the refugees, who looked positively enthused to be beating up the man who dared to take food from their starving families, "Grab him." he simply directed, the refugees pouncing on the man, holding his arms and legs to prevent him from bending.

"Y-you're going to kill me- is that it? All for a bit of food?!" the man questioned with a tone of disbelief, the Prince glancing back his uncle before chuckling.

"Ah... no." he clarified, swinging his blade around to have the blade upward, not in any way ready to cut him, "But I am going to make sure you can't bully any more innocent people." he admitted with a chuckle, before the soldier's eyes widened; a few moments later Zuko hammered down the hilt of his dagger into both of his forearms which were being held out, the bones audibly fracturing.

The soldier cried in pain and screamed out, the banished prince rolling his eyes before kicking him square in the chest; he looked back at his uncle, who seemed rather uncomfortable with his nephew's actions, but both of them were certainly happy that he didn't just murder someone over food.

Glancing down at the man with contempt, he spat into the dirt beside him, "Now, now you can't hurt anybody."

"Well, Mr. Blue Spirit, are we going to get our food now?" one of the refugees asked him, his uncle snickering at the name by which Zuko was referred; the Prince blushed slightly at the name, feeling it sounded quite stupid out loud.

"Uh, yes... we're not starving any longer." he acknowledged, walking back over to the store, where the clerk looked at him wide eyed with shock.

"Wow, you actually just beat up those goons." he told him with a tone of surprise, "No one has ever stood up against them." the Prince shrugging off his comments.

"No one is going to starve because of that moron." he pointed to the defeated soldier, who still laid splayed across the street, groaning in pain.

"Good luck, you're a good kid." the clerk gave him a smile, before he pulled out the last of the bags of food, the refugees all lining up to grab each of the bags, Zuko taking one between his arms, noting it's heavy weight; he didn't have much energy to carry anything, and he hoped that their new campsite wasn't going to be too far away.

"Uncle." he addressed the retired general, who glanced up at Zuko with surprise from his rather serious tone, "I need you to go find the other refugees and see if they've found any food." he directed him, to which Iroh smiled and nodded.

"Of course, nephew! I'll find them at once." he assured him before quickly taking off with haste down the street, searching for the other refugees that Zuko had sent off to find food.

The Prince turned his head down to smell the food in his bag, which despite its rather dour look made him salivate with desire; if there was one thing he had learned from his hungry day and night, it was the food was more important than any kind of restraint he ought to hold. If someone was going to let another man starve, then he ought to see what a bunch of hunger can make someone do; it turned out hungry men were better fighters than actual soldiers when it came down to it.

* * *

"You did what?"

Sawa's tone of disbelief was well founded in Suki's eyes; Zuko, his uncle and the other refugees had returned from the village with bags of food, however the story that came with them was more than surprising. The banished prince, who usually was quite reserved and serious, supposedly broke out in anger when some Earth Kingdom soldiers tried to take some of their food as taxation, a brawl breaking out between them, with Zuko and the refugees as the obvious victors. One of the refugees had just recounted exactly how the Prince had punished the leader of the soldiers, by breaking his arms to prevent him from bending.

"I did what I had to. These people aren't going to starve now." Zuko assured them, the warriors glancing at each other momentarily, the head warrior seriously considering the argument he might have formulated to do such an absurd thing.

"Well, the good news is, we found some animals nearby, so we'll be having even more food for dinner tonight!" Nakata piped up with a grin, proud of their work, something that Suki was inclined to agree with; they didn't need to beat up Earth Kingdom soldiers to find dinner, and she was glad that was the case.

"Now that's settled, how about we get all of that food ready. I'm sure everyone's quite literally starving." she admitted, the Prince and the refugees all nodding with agreement, taking their bags of food toward the campfire kitchen that the warriors had quickly assembled in preparation to cook the game they caught.

"And the tea!" Iroh piped up with a grin, Suki winking at his enthusiasm; tea would likely calm everyone down a little, something they probably needed to do after walking across the wilderness with empty stomaches.

"Of course, the tea is welcome." she smiled, Zuko looking at his uncle with slight embarrassment before he continued walking on over to the campfire; she chuckled under her breath at his reaction, not wanting to prod him about it, knowing that he would most likely react badly- he just had to fight, and he was just as hungry as the rest of them.

The head warrior followed in tow with the refugees, helping them take the various items of food out of the bags, sorting them out; the preserved meat could be cooked up and turned into a stew with the few vegetables they had, but first they would need to actually set up their fire. The warriors had caught a few small game, but she knew they wouldn't feed many people; the small rodents were numerous but lean, meaning that they wouldn't get much but a snack out of them. She grabbed a few pieces of meat, and with Amari's assistance, jabbed them into the spit, which they lifted above the fire. Although the process took them a while to get all the meat cooking, the pure number of people that they had working gave them the advantage of efficiency; the pot was already set up, a large metal one that the refugees had taken along with them, and it was filled with some of the water they collected from the stream earlier that day. Sparing water for a pot where much of it was likely to evaporate in the cooking was a risky move, but she knew that they needed to feed everyone properly if they wanted to keep on moving. The two dozen or so refugees that they were protecting were all hungry, and she knew that they would struggle to keep walking across the country if they were starving.

Suki heard Amari grumble, "Urgh- I really hope this food is good. I didn't come to the mainland to eat dirt." she admitted, the head warrior chuckling at her friend's complaint.

"This is just a simple sacrifice we have to make for the greater good." she admitted, the warrior huffing with annoyance as she continued to put vegetables into the pot.

"Greater good my arse." she grumbled, "I'd like to see a proper meal again. Iroh's tea is the only good thing I've consumed in the past week." she acknowledged, the retired general piping up with a grin.

"Why, thank you, Amari. I put great effort into making great tea." he beamed at them, earning a glare from Zuko, who was in the process of cutting up some meat.

"Come on, Uncle. You don't need to boast that much." he advised him, the older man raising a brow at his nephew's suggestion.

"Excuse me, nephew... are you implying that you could make better tea than me?" he questioned him with suspicion, the Prince shaking his head profusely.

"Nope." he bluntly admitted, "Your tea's great. But it can't be that hard to make, can it?" he asked his uncle, who smirked at him, showing his hand under his teapot.

"It's all in the-" he begun, Zuko hushing him; Suki realised a moment later what Iroh was about to say, and was glad the Prince had the foresight to stop him.

"Uncle." his tone stern, "Don't talk about that." he reminded him, the head warrior nodding at the suggestion.

"That ability, is something that might be helpful, but it shouldn't be public." she agreed with the Prince's suggestion, the warriors getting the hint of what was being discussed, all looking around with slight aversion, knowing the touchy topic of firebending; with the refugees around, it was best that they didn't firebend, or even talk about it, knowing what mentalities the war had instilled in the people of the Earth Kingdom.

"Yes, that's right," Zuko agreed with her, before turning to his uncle with a face of annoyance, "Uncle."

"Of course." Iroh acknowledged, before turning to face the head warrior herself, "I promise not to be a nuisance to you, Lady Suki." he assured her, making the warriors snicker at his deference.

She looked at her fellow warriors for a moment before chuckling herself, "Ah, it's just Suki." she emphasised, before turning to indicate to the spit, "Come on girls, we need to get this food ready. You want lunch, don't you."

Amari puffed her chest up and saluted her jokingly, "Yes, ma'am!" before pointing at the other warriors accusingly, "That's right, get to work." she demanded of them in jest, the other three warriors looking at her with annoyance, before they all broke down laughing, even Zuko snickering a little.

Suki rolled her eyes at her rather obscene behaviour, but was glad they were trying to have a laugh despite the circumstances; she knew that they needed something in their time of hardships, and she smiled, momentarily glancing at Zuko, catching a glance from him. Walking over to the spit without another word, she smirked while no one was looking; a good laugh wasn't the only thing she liked.

* * *

The former Crown Prince of the Fire Nation very much enjoyed having a full stomach; Zuko hadn't ever really considered hunger to ever be a major priority in his life, but after trekking across the barren Earth Kingdom wilderness for days on end, only to end up beating up some soldiers who were greedy enough to try and tax the starving refugees. That was the furthest thing from his mind however, as he found himself smiling in bed, considering his work for the day finally having paid off, and could rest peacefully knowing that the people he had set out to protect had as full stomachs as his own; he had his eyes closed, trying to let himself fall into the bliss of sleep after begrudgingly watching the campsite entertainment, which was some Earth Kingdom folk play done by the refugee children. The kids weren't bad at acting, but their story was convoluted and confusing- talking about spirits and the the ghosts of ancestors, haunted forests and a bear- not a platypus-bear, a bear-bear. He was confused by the story, but nonetheless he had gotten a couple snickers out of it; he was just glad he wasn't watching the Ember Island Players, who he was sure would ruin even such a folk play with their horrible acting. As he drifted off to sleep, he recounted the story of the play in his head, trying to make sense of it, but it was of little use; he knew he would just fall asleep still confused by their play, and probably that was for the best- he wasn't an Earth Kingdom peasant after all, so he ought to ignore their cultural oddities.

Zuko rolled over on his bedroll, trying to find a more comfortable position, and laid his arm out off the bedroll, his hand lying off to the side, fumbling around with his bag; he pulled out his trusty dagger, and begun to spin the blade in his hand. He found it as entertaining as he always had, but he found it to be quite relaxing to watch spin around, it's inscription spinning around forming distorted images. The Prince sniffled, noting a rather pungent smell outside; he mentally swore to himself that if a refugee had defecated right next to his tent, he was going to have a fit. Opening the fabric end of his tent, he noted there was a orange hue of light coming from nearby; he was about to dismiss it as coming from the campfire, but realised there was colour coming from multiple directions. A few moments later he heard a few shouts and screams, and he realised that he didn't smell shit- he could smell burning tents.

Zuko tightened his grip on his dagger, standing up from his tent, glad that he was always wearing some form of clothes, stretching his arms before shouting out to the nearby tents where the Kyoshi Warriors were probably trying to get to sleep, "We're under attack!" he told them, the tents ruffling for a few moments, some heads peering out; at the very least the warriors were awake.

Reaching down into his tent, he grabbed his two katana blades, drawing them out into his hands, ready to face whoever had decided to attack their camp in the dead of night; he had a pretty good idea who would be as forward to try something like that, and to his relief, that probably wasn't his sister. He paced through the campsite with haste, quickly approaching the orange ambience of the fires that were burning, along with the sounds of shouts from the refugees, who were rightly concerned by what was happening. After turning a corner, he made sight of the burning tents, where the soldiers he had been fighting before were standing with torches, setting fire to the tents with ease; he gritted his teeth and readied his swords, knowing he would have to deal with the soldiers again- perhaps he had been a little too merciful.

"You shouldn't have come here." he chided the soldiers, approaching them with his blade draw, while the soldiers present drew out their spears, pointing them right at him.

The soldiers raced at him with their spears in hand, the Prince quickly disarming one after ducking under his strike, before knocking another out with the hilt of his left blade; he dodged another attempt to impale him, rolling back before swiping at his opponent's legs, forcing him off his feet. After a few swings of his swords, he realised that his enemies were surrounding him in a circle, ready to pounce on him at a moments notice; the soldiers lunged at him, the Prince cutting at the chests of two of them, but finding his arms grappled by the remaining soldiers; they held his arms out in a lock, leaving him exposed as another soldier jabbed him in the gut, Zuko wincing in pain.

"F-fuck you." he grumbled under his breath, kicking the man in his shins before setting his hands on fire, scaring the soldiers who were trying to hold him down.

"So, he's a fucking ash-maker, ey?" he heard one of the soldiers remark, "We're going to make sure Gow gets a piece of you." he proclaimed, the Prince gritting his teeth before increasing the intensity of the flames into beams, firing right into the faces of the men who were trying to hold him, before sending out a kick of flames to incapacitate the man who had jabbed him earlier.

His enemies pounced on him once more, throwing Zuko off his feet; before his opponent could hit him, the Prince sent a blast of fire into the man's face, making him squeal in pain. He assumed that he had just sent fire into the man's eyes, but that mattered little to him; he was only trying to survive the onslaught and protect the camp from the criminals who dared to call themselves soldiers. He found another soldier trying to attack him with a dagger, to which he dodged a swinging attack before jabbing the man in the nose, making him grunt in pain before Zuko shoved him to the ground. He readied himself into a stance once more, ready to fight the men in front of him, who were just as tired and probably more injured than he was; before he could make a move, he found the ground collapse beneath him, and he was flung off his feet, along with a few of the soldiers.

"You're mine!" he heard a familiar voice proclaim- the earthbender leader of the thugs, whose arms he had broken in an attempt to prevent the very situation he was in; it turned out earthbenders truly were as stubborn as rocks.

He tried to regain his posture, but the earthbender simply raced toward him and tackled him to the ground, making Zuko grunt in pain. He tried to push the man off of him, but he was forced back to the ground as the man's fist pummelled into his head, blood splattering from his mouth; despite the man's broken forearms, he was still willing to try and punch the Prince to death.

"You. Fucking. Peasant!" the soldier shouted as he hammered his hands into Zuko's chest, which was already aching in pain by the time the Prince raised a flaming hand to hit the earthbender in the face.

His opponent growled in pain, but continued his onslaught, throwing his fists down onto the Prince. He was barely able to deflect the hits, using his right hand to hold off one of his enemies, twisting his wrist to shatter his forearm bones further; the earthbender growled him anguish before raising his fists, ready to hammer them down onto Zuko's skull. Before the man's fists could fall onto his face, he was stopped, jutting forward, and sputtering out blood; the Prince's eyes widened, realising what had just happened; the earthbender's body fell to the side, leaving his saviour revealed, Suki standing with her katana, coated in the blood of the man she had just killed. In that moment he knew that he had nearly died, and that she had killed a man to save him from the fate that had nearly befallen him.

"S-Suki."


	18. The North Pole

_"Your majesty, you must reconsider; the North Pole is ripe for the taking!"_

_Princess Azula snickered in seeing the pleading unravel before her; she knew Commander Zhao was an arrogant fool, but she didn't think that he would be so forward as to personally ask the Fire Lord for the opportunity to invade the North Pole. She knew her father was many things, but he was not a moron who would willing send off a fleet to attack a place inhabited and defended by waterbenders, who would just as easily destroy them as the Fire Nation had the airbenders with Sozin's Comet._

_"Your confidence is misplaced." she heard her father's cold, commanding voice; it made her shiver at the thought of what he could do to Zhao for his insolence, and that almost made her giddy- perhaps her banished brother might find his vengeance in quite the roundabout fashion, "I would be a fool to send our armies up north with a narrow chance of victory- do I look like a fool, Commander?" her father quipped, the Commander's head dropping in deference, the Princess seeing him visibly shaking._

_"Of course not, your majesty." he declared with as tough a tone he could muster._

_"Your request is denied." he simply told Zhao with a frustrated tone that rather expressed him being more annoyed than angered at the vain officer, obviously knowing that they would eventually have to invade the North Pole, "Leave, before I decide to make an example of you." he ordered the Commander with a cold tone, who quickly pulled himself to his feet and paced out of the room; he was running like a coward with his tail between his legs._

_She stood by the curtains, her eyes peering back to her father's throne, where his silhouette remained intimidating behind the flames; he was as regal as ever, ensuring that their nation was run effectively and not by self-centred morons like Zhao. She knew that one day, she or her brother would be sitting where their father was, and would have to wear the crown just as their father and grandfather before them. It was a task she was more than willing to take up, but she knew the risks that came along with becoming Fire Lord; assassination, court intrigue, all the things she would like to avoid- she was certain her grandfather was murdered, and she could only guess by whom. She also knew that it was likely if her father wasn't overthrown finally by her fat and moronic uncle that he would likely find the same fate as his own father; she didn't want to see her father dead, but she knew more than anyone that reigns of power had to come to an end, and it was better that they came peacefully rather than in a civil war. She was certain in hindsight that if her uncle had returned home with her grandfather still living, his eventual death would have caused a civil war, and it was more than likely the Fire Nation would have fallen into utter chaos because of it. Azula more than anything did not want to befall the fate of her uncle, or worse, her grandfather._

_"O father, how grateful the Fire Nation ought to be for your swift intervention." she chuckled to herself, knowing that the Fire Lord couldn't hear her._

_If people understood the royal court they could, they would have applauded her father's probable murder of Fire Lord Azulon. The old man would have had her uncle, the legendary Dragon of the West, even after his greatest failure, become the Fire Lord, and with that her father would have been forced to act- in any case the Fire Nation would have burned itself in such an ungracious fashion._

_Walking back from the curtains, she sneaked around and out of the throne room, knowing that her time there was done; she had observed what needed to be observed, and she could return to her tutoring and training, preparing herself to become the best heir she could be for her father, even if she realised she probably wouldn't want to be Fire Lord, knowing what kind of fate would eventually befall her. She knew that Zuko was ultimately a better choice in the long run, and she would very much prefer him to be the target of international vilification and assassinations. She didn't know much about what her brother had been like since his embarrassment, reports few and far between, whispers from the other side of the world, but she had heard that he had grown tough and almost comically furious in his time of banishment. The Princess raised a brow at the possibilities, thinking perhaps inadvertently, in trying to remove a child from the succession, the Fire Lord was creating the perfect heir that would ultimately destroy him. She snickered in thought, considering the tragedy that would ultimately come from the seeds the Fire Lord sowed himself._

_"It's almost like poetry, history loves to repeat itself." she noted to herself, before smirking in thought; the last invasion of the North Pole had ended in utter failure, and ever since the ascension of her grandfather decades prior, there had been no further attempts to do so._

_As she walked along the hallway of the palace, she felt a lightness in her step, knowing the fate that would tragically befall the Commander if he ever go the opportunity to try his stupendous invasion without the supreme power of the comet._

_"I am looking forward to this play-worthy tragedy."_

* * *

Standing in his tent, with his subordinates before him, Admiral Zhao felt a sense of pride, knowing that finally his greatest desire was upon him. Capturing the Avatar might end up being simply a small addition on the side of his achievements, when he knew that when he conquered the North Pole he would be one of the greatest Fire Nation leaders in history, destroying an entire style of bending with a simple stroke of genius. He reminded himself of the luck he had in finding those scrolls all those years ago in Wa Shi Tong's Library, and he knew that information would come to great use; the spirits were to blame in the end- if the greatest threat to them was the knowledge they kept, they were fools to ever come to the material world. He would destroy waterbending, he would destroy the Northern Water Tribe, and his name would be etched down in history.

He pointed down at the map of the world before him, indicating in motion toward the North Pole, "He's heading north- to the Northern Water Tribe. The Avatar needs to master waterbending- he's looking for a teacher."

One of his subordinates, Captain Li, narrowed his eyes with a face of annoyance, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go get him!"

The Admiral raised a hand in dismissal, "Patience, Captain Li. This isn't some little earth village we can just march into. THe Water Tribe is a great nation. There's a reason they've survived a hundred years of war; the frozen tundra is treacherous, the landscape itself is an icy fortress. We'll need a massive invasion force."

"Is that so?" he heard a familiar voice ask him, in an ever-present condescending tone; he turned around and faked a smile, knowing the Princess was eventually going to show up- she was the one to suggest he actually ready for his invasion plans in the first place.

"Princess Azula, what a pleasure you have come to join us; is your quest faring well?" he asked her with a glint of spite in his eyes, knowing that eventually she would have to capture her uncle and brother at return the traitors to the Fire Lord to face justice.

"As well as it could. My uncle and brother are slippery, and they've taken it upon themselves to go on a wild trek around the Earth Kingdom, but once I narrow their location down again, they will be able to run no longer." she explained herself, the Admiral noting the truthfulness in her words, or at least that is what they seemed to convey.

"Well then, I assume you are here by your father's orders?" he asked her, the Princess shaking her head.

"No, my father did tell me about the invasion plans, and suggested that perhaps a bit of royal oversight might help. I will need experience in the field if I am to become Fire Lord, Admiral." she excused herself, Zhao's eyes narrowing at her momentarily; he still couldn't tell if she was lying, and had just come to spite him, or if the Fire Lord had really wanted his heir to oversee his invasion.

"That is most certainly true, your highness." he conceded, "Perhaps you would like to give us all some insight on how to finally destroy the northern barbarians?" he asked her, the Princess snickering.

"Well, what did we do in the South Pole?" she asked him, the Admiral raising a brow.

"We destroyed their cities, isolated and captured the waterbending population." he recited his knowledge on the fate of the Southern Water Tribe, which had taken decades to whittle down into near nothingness.

"Well, the majority of this tribe lives in a very large city, does it not?" she asked him, the Admiral and his subordinate officers nodding along.

"Yes, that is why we need such a large invasion force." he clarified, the Princess's lips curling into a smirk, something that made a shiver go down his spine.

"Well then, Admiral. I am sure that you already know what to do." she simply conceded, such a move by her seeming so insincere it actually scared him; there was no way she knew about Tui and La- it was implausible.

"Uh- thank you, your highness. I hope that with the superior might of our glorious navy we will finally put an end to the Northern Water Tribe."

"Yes, just remember what happened to the last invasion. You surely don't want to make the same mistakes." she advised him, the Admiral catching a few odd looks from his men, making him puff his chest confidently, knowing exactly what needed to be done.

"I won't, your highness." he assured her, who smirked back at him callously.

"Brilliant. Well then, you best find that massive invasion force; the Avatar won't be there for very long, will he?" she questioned, the Admiral shaking his head, turning to his men.

"We need to get as many ships as possible. Tundra tanks, cavalry units, marines." he explained, the officers nodding along, "Each of you will go out and request troops and ships from all the ports around the northern Earth Kingdom; we need all the men we can find if we want to finally put an end to the Avatar and the nation that harbours him." he told them with a growing tone of confidence.

"I hope your confidence is not misplaced." the Princess told him, before stepping out of the tent.

His eyes widened in realising how he had heard words very similar to hers when he had last requested his plans be considered by the Fire Lord, however her words seemed far more threatening, as he knew that Fire Lord Ozai was not lying straight to his face- the lies scared him more than the truth.

* * *

Sokka had seen it before, and the thought of when he had made his gut churn. Soot, and lots of it- when his village was attacked- when his mother died- when he lost everything; it made him even more fearful to know that Yue was by his side. He picked it up with his hand, and mumbled, knowing exactly what the black snow meant.

"Soot." he simply told her, the Water Tribe princess looking at him with confusion.

"What?" she asked him, to which he simply looked on with a grimace, not knowing how to explain his aversion without getting emotional.

"I've seen this before, right before my village was attacked. It's soot mixed with snow." he told her, rising to his feet.

"But why?" she asked him, the Water Tribe warrior cringing in thought- she had never seen the horrors of war, not like he had; he wasn't Aang, but he understood it well enough.

"It's the Fire Nation." he simply told her, looking out to the horizon, before glancing back at her fearfully, "They've closed in on the North Pole, and from the looks of this stuff, I'd say there's a lot of them."

"We have to get back to the city." she told him, to which he nodded with agreement.

"Of course. It will be safe there, for now." he told her with a fearful tone; she placed a hand on his shoulder momentarily, before retracting it.

"Wh-what happened?" she asked him, the warrior gruffly shrugging off the question; he liked Yue, but he didn't want to open up the box that he had momentarily revealed- he wasn't going to let his past boil up like a sickness.

"It doesn't matter. Not anymore." he told her, knowing that he had greater priorities, "I have to help Aang, and help protect my sister tribe." he explained to her curtly, indicating for her to climb back onto Appa.

"I had heard things about your people, but only rumours." she admitted to him, obviously feeling as if she had done wrong by him, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to intrude." she apologised, Sokka shaking his head before glancing back out to the horizon.

"No. It wasn't you." he told her with a serious tone, his eyes narrowing at the horizon, unsure as to when they would arrive, to destroy another Water Tribe, "It was them. They did it."

He climbed back onto Appa's saddle and grabbed hold of the reins, "Yip, yip, buddy." he asked of the sky-bison, who groaned before lifting his tail and pushing up into the air, Yue grabbing tightly onto the saddle's edge in fear of falling off, "Don't worry. We'll be fine." he tried to assure her, knowing that in fact his words were a blatant lie; they were never fine, they were always waiting for the next bad thing to happen.

The ride back to the city was quiet, and Sokka was somewhat glad for it; he didn't want anything to happen to Yue, he didn't want her to see the darkness of the world- she was innocent and he wanted to protect that innocence from everything, even himself. As they flew over the icy cliffs toward the city proper, he pulled on the reins of the beast, directing him to land where they had originally taken off from.

Landing in the stables, Sokka grabbed the Princess's hand, and indicated for them to get off the sky-bison; he could hear the drums being sounded off in the city, and grimaced in thought, "We need to get back to the palace."

"Yes, my father will want me there." she agreed with him, and they slid down Appa's side, landing on the icy ground; Appa groaned at him, the warrior thinking perhaps he didn't want to be left alone- he patted his side and smiled at him.

"Don't worry buddy. You'll be okay here." he assured the animal, before he and Yue quickly paced away, knowing that they had to get to the palace.

They raced through the city as quickly as their thick clothing would allow them, following the streams of citizens rushing in the same direction toward the citadel in the centre of the city; when they made sight of the citadel, he sighed with relief, knowing that they would be safe there. As they made their way up the steps, Yue suddenly stopped, confusing Sokka, who remembered that she was the one who told him that she would be needed by her father.

"What's wrong? We have to go!" he pointed up to the citadel, the Princess letting go of his hand.

"No, Sokka, wait, I can't see you anymore. Not at all." she told him, the warrior grumbling with frustration- her inner conflict was beyond confusing, and he knew that he had to figure it out eventually.

He protested her argument, "What? We're just friends."

"I wish we could just be friends, but I like you too much and it's confusing to be around you. I'm marrying someone else." she told him with a sorrowful tone, looking at in sadness.

"You don't love him, do you?" he asked her genuinely, still confused, "You don't even seem to like him."

"But I do love my people." she clarified, Sokka knowing those words too well; love for one's people makes them do things they wouldn't rather do, but would she really give away herself just for her people?

"You're not marrying them." he stressed, Yue turning to face him.

"You don't understand. I have duties to my father, to my tribe. I have to do this. Goodbye." she tersely explained herself, running up past him; he wanted to tell her that he understood what she was feeling, even if it wasn't in the same way.

Sokka had lost his mother, and he was obliged to become a warrior, to serve his tribe, to fight the Fire Nation, even to help Aang, despite the fact he had become fast friends with the young airbender; everything he did was out of that duty, the duty of respect to what he had lost, and he was sure Katara felt the same way. Yue's obligations were different, but they were all the same in the end; she couldn't betray her tribe, that would be a dishonour to her father, to herself, and to the Northern Water Tribe. Sokka swore upon himself that it wasn't her fault- it truly wasn't; it was their traditions, their culture- and he hated his sister tribe for it. How his own sister had been treated until Pakku found out about Gran-Gran disturbed him beyond belief, and how Yue was treated, how she even was forced to view herself, that was just as bad.

"Damn this place. No wonder Gran-Gran left it. No wonder she came to our shitty ice-hole." he admitted to himself, knowing that it wasn't a kind judgement on either Water Tribe, but he knew it was true.

* * *

Standing on the bridge of Admiral Zhao's battleship, Azula smirked upon the sight of the Northern Water Tribe; a place that had held out for a long time against the Fire Nation, and perhaps it would finally fall. The Admiral had a great utility for her nation, but once he had served it, he would no longer need to exist. He would have attained his greatest victory, only to be destroyed; she knew that she would deliver the blow, in her brother's name, for he was too invested in his own adventure in the Earth Kingdom to want to come with her; in a way she agreed with him not coming- he brother might have killed Zhao before he had the chance to conquer the North Pole, leaving him dead, and the Prince without the Avatar. She realised the complication that arose however, knowing that she couldn't let the Avatar be captured by Zhao, who would most likely have him sent to her father, leaving her with no realistic way to return her brother to his rightful place and become the Prince she desired him to be.

"Your highness, I see your appreciating the view." she heard Zhao remark, making her snicker at the suggestion; she did find some calmness in seeing her nation's forces pummel the Northern Water Tribe out of existence, if she were to be honest.

"I am, but I am concerned. How can you expect to defeat them when they are on their home ground, and have the assistance of the Avatar himself?" she asked him bluntly, Zhao chuckling as he walked over to the railing beside her.

"I have everything under control. I intend to remove the threat the waterbenders pose to us, and I doubt the Avatar will able to defeat us." he remarked, making her narrow her eyes at his rather extreme claim.

"The Avatar is more powerful than any other bender alive, and even then, how can you remove waterbending from the equation?" she asked him with slight confusion, although she masked it with a tone of curiosity.

"Admiral Choi!" she heard a voice exclaim, the Princess turning her head, to see a Water Tribe man wearing a very antique soldier's uniform, "Prepare to meet your fate!"

The disguised Water Tribesman raced at Zhao with a spear in hand, Azula quickly stepping in front of the Admiral, taking a stance; before the spear could reach her, she had spun her hands around and directed lightning from her fingertips, zapping the would-be-assassin in the chest, throwing him across the bridge and crashing through the doors behind them, screaming in pain.

Seeing the threat dealt with, and the Admiral's personal guard surrounding the man, she glanced back to Zhao, "As you were saying?"

"Ah yes, years I ago I stumbled upon a great and powerful secret; the identity of the Moon Spirit's mortal form." he explained, the Princess furrowing a brow; this was something she didn't know.

"Really?" she asked him, genuinely curious as to how the Admiral ever learnt such a thing.

"I was a young lieutenant serving under General Shu in the Earth Kingdom. I discovered a hidden library. Underground, in fact. I tore through scroll after scroll. One of them contained a detailed illustration, and the words 'moon' and 'ocean'. I knew then that these spirits could be found and killed. And that it was my destiny to do so." he told her with a tone of confidence, making her snicker in consideration of the implications of his words.

"Oh, so that's why you've been so obsessed with this invasion." she noted with a chuckle, the Admiral looking at unease before his lips curled into a smirk.

"The Ocean and Moon spirits gave up their immortality to become part of our world. And now they will face the consequences." he told her with a dark tone, his eyes glinting with desire.

"Well Zhao, good luck in your spirit-hunting, but I'm sure you must remember the real threat." she reminded him, the Admiral's hands grasping the railing tensely.

"The Avatar can be dealt with. I'm sure you'd prefer to do that yourself." he admitted, the Princess shrugging.

"Well, I guess you're right." she acknowledged, "The Avatar is the greatest threat to our nation, the nation I intend to lead one day. He must be stopped." she simply told the Admiral, who narrowed his glance at her.

"And what of your brother?" she asked him, the Princess dismissing the suggestion.

"He isn't here. And I don't expect him to pop out and try and stop your plans. That would ruin the glorious victory we will attain over these lesser peoples, will it not?" she asked him, Zhao looking back at her confidently.

"Yes, yes it would." he told her with a rather giddy tone, if she could ever call the Admiral giddy; he was rather too spiteful to ever be truly happy with the state of the world.

She knew that as long as he was confident in himself, he would not fear her and that would ensure her plans would come to fruition; no matter if the North Pole fell to the might of the Fire Nation, Zhao would not have the chance to leave it.

* * *

Opening his eyes, Aang felt a sense of relief, knowing the identities of the Ocean and Moon spirits, who he had to protect from the Fire Nation; they were just like him, keeping balance in the world- if anything were to happen to them, he had no idea what would eventuate. Much to his frustration, he realised as he opened his eyes, he was been shaken awake by the crazy side-burns guy; trying to move himself to get away, he realised that he had been tied up, along with Sokka, Katara and Yue.

"So you're awake, 'master of the elements'." he mocked Aang, who gritted his teeth, knowing that the man intended to do.

"Yes I am. And I'm going to stop you." he smirked, the Admiral chuckling at him with disbelief, acknowledging the Fire Nation soldiers that surrounded them all.

"Is that so? What are you going to do, call on Avatar Roku again, to save your little peasant friends?" he mockingly asked him.

"Oh no. It's going to be much worse than that." he simply told him, honestly knowing that no one would enjoy what would happen.

"That's right." Sokka piped up, "He's going to kick your behind all the way back to the Fire Nation!" he piped up, the Admiral glaring at the Water Tribe warrior refraining from striking him.

"It's no matter, I've already achieved victory. " he told Aang, revealing a net in his hands, indicating to the spirit pond that sat before them; Aang's eyes widened immediately, knowing that he had to do something, but no Avatar state was coming, not yet.

He took in a deep breath before blowing out, throwing Zhao off of his feet and across the pond; the Avatar quickly used his bending to blow the restrains loose off of him and his friends, who quickly stood up, Sokka and Katara getting into fighting forms, ready to defend the spirits.

"Argh! Kill them!" Zhao commanded, his men quickly sending out beams of fire toward Aang, who dispersed the flames by bending water out from the walls of the spirit-oasis with Katara, creating a wall of ice between them and the Fire Nation soldiers.

A few moments later however, the ice-wall was ripped apart by firebending, forcing the group to step back as Aang deflected the flames away with his airbending; Zhao stood forward, using a massive blast of firebending to knock them back even further, the blast burning the Avatar's clothes, making him cringe in pain from the singing.

Wincing slightly, he stood tall, readying a waterbending move, before Zhao aimed his fist down, "Stop! Do you want the Moon Spirit to die?!" he asked the young Avatar, who gritted his teeth.

"Of course not. That's why you have to be stopped!" he exclaimed in a burst of anger, knowing that the Admiral was essentially holding the spirit hostage with his threat, "Destroying the moon won't just hurt the Water Tribe. It will hurt everyone, including you. Without the moon, everything would fall out of balance. You have no idea what kind of chaos that would unleash on the world." Aang tried to argue, the Admiral looking at him smugly, before a voice called out from behind them.

"The Avatar makes a convincing point." he heard a girl's voice quip, "Are you sure you want to do that, Admiral?" she asked him, stepping forward from the group of soldiers that stood behind him; she was Fire Nation like the rest of them, but she had a small red and gold crown on her head to complement her red armour.

"Hey, it's you!" he heard Sokka gasp, noting that he must have recognised her from some time earlier.

Aang raised a brow, "Who?"

"Crown Princess Azula." she simply addressed him before facing Zhao, "You shouldn't have tried to kill my brother." she stressed with a glint of hatred, taking a bending form, ready to fight the Admiral, whose face became more fearful than angry at the sight of her.

"Zuko?" he could hear both Katara and Sokka gasp, realising what was going on; Zhao's invasion had just been upstaged by a personal feud.

Before anyone could make another move, Zhao sent a fireball down into the spirit pond, the sky suddenly turning dark with the sudden disappearance of the moon; seeing the momentary opportunity, Aang send out an airbending attack, in key with the amazingly blue firebending attack of Azula, both of which struck Zhao, flinging him to the side. Quickly their fight became more complicated as all of them fought of Zhao's men, the firebenders not standing a chance against their superior power; the Fire Nation Princess immediately took out most of Zhao's men, who all began to flee, knowing that they didn't stand a chance. He glanced at Azula with appreciation, before both of them noticed that Zhao was running away with his men; the Princess didn't give him another look before following the Admiral- he understood her actions, and made no comment, only focusing on the real issue at hand, the fact the moon had just disappeared.

He looked down at the spirit pool, kneeling down with a face of shock, and picked up the body of the dead white koi fish; he heard Yue's voice behind him, "There's no hope now."

At that moment he felt a sense of power finally surge through him; he wasn't just a twelve-year-old airbender- he was the Avatar.

"No, it's not over."

* * *

Chasing after Zhao, Azula's eyes widened in shock, seeing the pure power of the Avatar's abilities on display; taking the form of a giant amphibian made of glowing ocean water, he laid waste to the Fire Nation invasion. She didn't appreciate the destruction of her nation's forces, and the death of her fellow countrymen, but that was nothing in comparison to what stood before her. She sent a lightning-strike at Zhao, barely missing him as he continued to run down into the city, the Admirals' guards having already dispersed, not wanting to even try and defend him against the prodigy firebender.

"You can't run forever!" she shouted at him, throwing another blue fireball toward him, striking his foot as he continued to race away; he rolled over his ankle and cried out in pain, the Princess quickly approaching, ready to finally put an end to the man who had made some quite stupid decisions.

He sent a fireball at her, which she quite literally cut in half with her own firebending; he growled in anger, sending blasts at her in an attempt to fend her off as she continued to approach, the smirk on her face undeniably fatalistic.

"You're nothing." she told him, sending a firebending blast to strike him right in his good eye, making him wince back, the attack barely missing.

She chuckled at her slight failure, standing over him as he tried to return to form; she grabbed his shoulder and jabbed him in the gut with a firebending powered punch, the Admiral gritting his teeth before chuckling.

"I-I've still- I won." he proclaimed in a pained voice, the Princess raising a brow.

"Dying is winning?" she asked him, rightly accusing him of being a moron.

"The moon is gone. Waterbending is gone." he told her, the Princess noting the glint of light in the sky above him, pointing up.

"That moon?" she asked him mockingly, his eyes widening in horror.

"It can't be!" he exclaimed in fear, the Princess punching him in the head, before grabbing his collar.

"Now, I must say, as much as I'd like to kill you, I think these savages will find much greater enjoyment out of it." she thought aloud, Zhao's eyes widening; she glanced up behind her and noted the arrival of the Avatar's friends, noting the distinguished absence of the white-haired girl.

"You returned the moon?" she asked them, the boy looking up toward the sky, tears falling down his face.

"She did. And now she's gone." he lamented, the Princess finding an small ounce of pity; such self-sacrifice, even if she would never do such a thing, was respectable.

"Well then, did you love this girl?" she asked the Water Tribe boy, the girl beside him looking with sadness and distraught.

"Y-yes." he mumbled with a face of melancholy, to which Azula smirked, pulling her captive's head up, indicating toward the pair.

"Then avenge your love." she simply told him, throwing Zhao down on the ground, the Admiral making a grunt.

"S-Sokka... You c-" the Water Tribe girl began to mutter, Sokka cutting her off, pulling out a bone dagger.

"No- she's right. This man tried to destroy our people, he killed Yue. He's everything wrong with the Fire Nation." he told her, walking forward and looking at Azula with a small tinge of respect, to which she smirked, glancing back down at Zhao, who was still pained from the beating she had given him; he was receiving exactly what he deserved after trying to destroy her brother, and in the end, trying to ruin the world for the sake of his own vanity.

"You will not burn, Zhao." she told him before beginning to walk away, leaving him to his fate, knowing that the Water Tribesman would take his sweet revenge, just as she had wanted her brother to.

"This is my mercy."


	19. For Love and Righteousness

_Crown Prince Zuko didn't mind sparring his sister, but he did mind it when he lost, his face on the floor and his clothes singed; Azula's ever-present smirk looked down at him, making his gut churn with resentment, but that feeling quickly subsided when she offered a hand to help him up._

_"Come on, Zuzu. You can do better." she assured him, the Prince relenting to take her hand to help him up, before taking it, knowing that she was right, as per usual._

_"Yeah, you're right." he admitted, making her chuckle at the observation._

_"Of course I am, Zuzu." she chided him, taking form once more, "What do you think you're doing? You aren't putting power into your strikes." she asked him, the Crown Prince sighing._

_"I don't want to hurt you." he admitted bluntly, a small look of pain noticeable in her eyes for a moment before she scowled at him with annoyance._

_"You're going to have to eventually fight people for real. You're going to go to war, aren't you?" she asked him rhetorically, knowing what he would answer._

_"Of course, Zula. It's my duty, as Crown Prince. Just like Uncle did when he was younger." he acknowledged, the Princess smirking back at him._

_"Well then, you should be prepared to kill. That is just a fact of war. People die." she simply told him, which made him annoyed- he wouldn't be talked down to about death by his little sister; he didn't even know if she understood death herself._

_"I know that. I'm the older one here. I remember what happened to cousin." he grumbled with annoyance and slight sadness, although he didn't want to show it; he wanted to be tough, for her sake._

_"I do too, dear brother. You need to be ready to act, to strike your enemies down, because if you won't, they will." she told him, the Prince nodding with a sigh, understanding what she meant, even if he didn't really agree with it._

_"Yes, I know. But a lot of these people, what if they're only fighting because they have to? What if they have no choice?" he asked her, the Princess shrugging._

_"They always have a choice: you either die avoiding war, or you die fighting for your country." she simply reiterated what they were always told, something that disturbed Zuko slightly._

_"But people shouldn't have to die. We should be able to win, to spread our prosperity without having to kill our enemies." he argued, making his sister scoff at him._

_"How are we going to do that exactly? Fly into Ba Sing Se on dragons and overthrow the Earth King?" she mockingly asked him, the Prince rolling his eyes._

_"Of course not. The dragons are dead- everyone knows that." he reiterated another bit of knowledge they were taught._

_"No they're not." she told him, pointing a finger on his sternum, "We are dragons." she declared, the Prince looking at her with confusion._

_"What? Is that some kind of metaphor?" he asked her, unable to decipher the meaning behind her words; Fire Lord Azulon had ordered the hunting of dragons, and he knew his uncle was renowned for killing the last one._

_"No. We are the dragons that will soar above, breathe fire and rule this world." she smirked at him, who got the hint of her metaphor._

_"Dragons aren't invincible." he simply told her, the Princess chuckling._

_"How do you think Grandfather died?" she quipped, Zuko taken aback by the question itself; after a few moments he looked at her with concern, actually considering the possibilities._

_"Probably Father." he simply muttered, Azula's eyes widening in realising he had taken her question literally._

_"No. Father wouldn't have done that. He was going to become Fire Lord, he just had to-" she begun, before stopping unable to let the words leave her mouth._

_"He just had to what?" he asked her, concerned by where she was going with her words; he might have said some near treasonous words, but what she was about to say was even worse._

_"Kill you." she mumbled, the Prince turning away with anger._

_"That's a lie." he told her with a growing tone of fury._

_"No, it isn't. I heard Grandfather tell Father to do it after he asked for his birthright from Uncle." she explained, the Prince's eyes widening, realising that with her tone, he could tell that she was being honest._

_"So Grandfather wanted Father to kill me?" he asked her with grit teeth, still infuriated by her suggestion, the Princess shaking her head._

_"No, he was trying to intimidate Father." she argued, "He didn't want Father to become heir, because of his absurd attachment to Uncle, even after his defeat at Ba Sing Se."_

_"So then Father killed Grandfather instead, so he didn't have to kill me?" he asked Azula with a tone of spite, who shook her head, grimacing in thought._

_"Maybe. How can I know? I was asleep that night." she simply told him, the Prince now looking down solemn, knowing that he shouldn't ought to be angry with her._

_"That was when Mother left us. She left us alone." he acknowledged, feeling both sad and angry; he had Azula and his uncle, but really, he had felt alone ever since she had left them._

_"We're not alone if we have each other." she told him in a rare moment of reconciliation, grasping a hand on his shoulder, "Now, let me ask you: would you kill someone to save your country?" she asked him, the Prince looking solemn._

_"I don't know." he mumbled, the Princess immediately jabbing him in the gut, making him wince in pain, looking back up at her with confusion; she was Azula, but even then, what was the point of hurting him now?_

_"Would you kill someone to save your family?" she asked again, now sounding more angry; he realised what she was really trying to ask him, and swallowed the pain of the jab he had received._

_"Y-yes- yes I would." he mumbled, the Princess smirking at him, as if appreciating his nod to protecting her, even if she didn't ask for it._

_"Would you kill someone to save yourself?" she asked once more, the Prince shaking his head._

_"No. Only to save my honour." he told her, the Princess's eyes narrowing at him._

_"Well then, what would you do to someone who dishonoured you truly?" she drilled him another question, this time sounding more curious than angry._

_"I would destroy them. I would destroy them and everything they stand for." he told her with a tone of confidence._

_"That's what I want to hear. Want to go again?" she offered him, Zuko grasping her hand to shake in approval._

_"I will never give up without a fight."_

* * *

Wincing from the touch of the wet cloth touching his face, Zuko breathed in and out, trying to stave off the pain from his bruises and cuts that he had received fighting the night prior; Suki looked at him with sympathy, knowing that treating his injuries was obviously going to hurt, but in truth, he felt more worried for her. She had murdered a man in his defence, and she acted as if nothing had happened; she tended to him, his injuries, without acknowledging what had happened to her, something he honestly considered to be worse than the physical injuries he had received himself.

She indicated to the tea cup that sat on the box beside him, giving him a curt smile, "Take a drink, Zuko. I'm sure your uncle's tea will ease the pain."

"T-thanks." he smiled back at her as he took the teacup into his hands, unsure how to ask her the question he wanted to, "Uh- how are you?" he simply asked her, knowing being direct was his best way of communicating.

"I'm fine." she told him, the Prince taken aback by her calmness.

"B-but... you killed someone last night." he reminded her, the Kyoshi Warrior grimacing.

"Y-yes. Yes I did. And I would do it again." she told him simply, Zuko still amazed by her resolve on it; he couldn't take it upon himself to kill anyone, bar perhaps Zhao, but even then he probably wouldn't go out of his way to do it.

"I'm- I'm just surprised. If I was in your situation, I'd be a lot more shaken." he admitted, the warrior placing a shoulder on his shoulder.

"I did what I had to- to protect you. He was going to kill you, Zuko." she reminded him, to which he shook his head.

"I could have fought him off- I just needed to use my firebending." he argued, Suki not taking his answer seriously.

"Don't kid yourself. You were being beaten to a pulp. I had to save you, and I'd do it again." she stood her ground, albeit figuratively, seeing that she was seated in front of him.

"T-thanks... I owe you my life." he admitted, the warrior shrugging.

"Don't worry about it. I would expect any of my warriors to do the same for me." she admitted, the Prince looking down for a moment in thought, recalling something he had once said.

"I'd do the same for you. You deserve it." he admitted, making her smile at him with appreciation of his words.

"Thanks. I'm okay. Don't worry about me." she assured him, the Prince about to argue before she leaned forward and kissed him on the forehead, "Don't boil yourself over it." she jested to him, the making Zuko roll his eyes.

"That's not how firebending works." he argued, the warrior rolling her eyes.

"Oh, how I wish you could just take a joke." she lamented in jest, the Prince chuckling at that, seeing the humour in the situation, "See that wasn't that hard. Laughing is good for you." she told him, the Prince chuckling.

"Ah yes, that's something Uncle told me once. Always kept calling me sour." he told her, recalling one of his Uncle's many words of advice on their long sea-voyage around the world.

"Well you are." she simply told him, making him fluster in confusion.

"You're meant to be on my side!" he grumbled, the warrior playfully punching his shoulder.

"Don't worry, I'm on your side when it counts." she assured him, the Prince looking at her with slight annoyance.

"I'm not sour." he tried to argue, the Kyoshi Warrior smugly looking back at him.

"Are you sure?" she questioned him, to which Zuko simply sighed.

"I try not to." he stressed, "I'm trying to stay positive."

She chuckled at his reaction, "Ah, it was just a joke." she assured him, "You're amazingly positive, trust me. Kyoshi Island has never been the most chirpy place." she admitted, the Prince nodding in agreement.

"Your people like to throw others to sea-monsters. That definitely isn't 'chirpy'." he explained his thoughts with a grimace, thinking about the threats he had faced from the islanders.

"Oh, we're not that bad. I'm sure you'll miss it soon enough." she jested, the Prince shaking his head with disagreement.

"No, I'd rather not end up sleeping in a closet again." she explained, the warrior chuckling.

"Don't worry about that. We will get you a room if you come home again." she assured him, making him shrug his shoulders.

"That's guessing I ever get back." he admitted, "I don't know where this path is leading me. I want to fix my nation, but I don't know how."

She smiled at him, placing a hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry Zuko, you'll eventually get back and make amends. Don't worry about it. We're just protecting these refugees until they get to safety, and then we can figure out what you need to do."

"Well, I hope everything goes to plan. Those damned soldiers were enough of a hassle already." he admitted, the Kyoshi Warrior nodding in agreement.

"We're tough enough together. No one else is going to boss us around, and hurt these refugees." she assured him, before suddenly they were interrupted by a hand opening the fabric of the tent.

Nakata's head peered in, "Uh, guys. There's some villagers here. They heard about what happened last night." she explained, the two of them glancing at each other momentarily before looking at the Kyoshi Warrior.

"Of course, Nakata. We'll be out to talk to them, just in a moment." she assured him, her subordinate nodding in understanding before furrowing a brow.

"Um, uh- am I interrupting something?" she asked them both, Zuko immediately getting flustered; they weren't doing anything, but there was the chance that they could have been.

"O-of course not." he assured her, glancing at Suki for a moment, noting the slight blush on her face, which was masked by a face of annoyance.

"No. Nothing's going on. I was just helping Zuko with his injuries; he took quite the beating last night." she told her bluntly, the Prince looking away with embarrassment, knowing that he hadn't performed that well in fighting the soldiers that were trying to burn down their camp.

"Yeah, you kicked some arse last night, Blue Spirit." Nakata acknowledged with a wink, making Suki snicker before the warrior left the tent.

"So, are you really going to go out and talk to these people? You are pretty hurt." the head warrior asked him, to which the Prince sighed, stretching his arms out.

"I guess I'll have to; I need to make sure we're safe here." he made his motives clear, the warrior nodding along with agreement.

"Yes. And we need to get out of here quickly too. The sooner we get to Ba Sing Se the better." she furthered, Zuko nodding as he grabbed his belt to fasten his shirt on properly, which had been hanging loose over his shoulders.

He pulled himself up to a kneeling position, Suki stepping out toward the opening of the tent, "Let's go."

They quickly pulled themselves from the tent, the Prince looking around the campsite to see what had happened since he stumbled back to his tent the night prior, barely able to see; the glare of the morning sun made him squint in near pain, touching his forehead to note the ever-present but weakening ringing sensation. Zuko walked forward, following Suki and Nakata away from their little corner of the camp toward the large campfire where a few villagers were standing waiting for them; they noted Suki and her more articulate armour and headpiece, indicating that she was the leader of the group.

They approached her with smiles, one of them, a middle aged man, stepping forward to address her, "We heard about what happened last night, with those soldiers." he explained, Suki glancing momentarily at her fellow warriors in aversion; the Prince guessed she was thinking what he was- the villagers were either going to be happy or appalled by their actions, "You girls held your own against those bullies. They were shameful to go after refugees, trying to find a better life." he explained, Zuko sighing audibly with relief.

"We're sorry for the chaos we caused in your village. We will be out of here soon enough." Suki assured him, the man chuckling glancing at his fellow villagers, before handing over a bag supplies.

"This isn't much, but we thought that you all would need some more supplies, seeing that your camp caught on fire." he acknowledged, the head warrior smiling and him and giving a curt bow.

"Thank you, your help is truly appreciated. You are?" she asked for his name, Zuko knowing the common courtesies himself- at least she wasn't his uncle, he might offer the whole group of peasants tea.

"Gansu. I have a farm out of town, so those goons don't bother me very often, but the others really had an irking against them." he explained himself, one of his fellow villagers raising a fist.

"Yeah, that's right." he pumped his fist, "You showed 'em!"

"We were just defending ourselves." Suki deflected their comments, seemingly a little uneasy with the attention.

"What's this? Donations?" Zuko heard the familiar voice of his uncle pipe up, to which he glanced his way and nodded.

"Wonderful! Thank you so much. Would you care for some tea?" he asked them, the villagers looking at eachother momentarily before one of them stuck up a hand.

"I love tea!" he exclaimed, the retired general grinning in response.

"So do I!" he agreed, pulling his teapot out, from his belt, as if it was a weapon that he would fight them with; much better he reveal a teapot than a knife, however, the Prince thought to himself.

Amari peered her head up from the campfire where she was working on preparing breakfast, her eyes widening with hope, "Can I get some too?" to which the Prince rolled his eyes at her ecstatic reaction.

"Don't you start."

* * *

The retired general didn't mind walking, especially after a fine cup of tea and a good breakfast, but after weeks of it, Iroh was beginning to think that he'd prefer to set up shop somewhere and swear off walking for the rest of his days. His feet ache was little distraction in comparison to the conversations he had been able to hold up; Amari and the other Kyoshi Warriors liked to talk to him, and even Zuko was willing to converse with him for a change. The midday sun streaked overhead, the heat of it warming the ground on their feet to a seemingly scorching temperature; he was just glad they weren't in the Si Wong Desert, yet. Zuko and him were actually well ahead of the rest of the group, probably because they were able to regulate their temperatures in the heat of the day; his nephew had remained in a rather odd mood for the time he had seen him. The banished prince wasn't usually thinking over things so seriously; he would obsess over his mission to find the Avatar, but that was a different kind of pondering- an erratic, frustrated Prince, not a cautious, perhaps fearful one.

"Prince Zuko, what's on your mind?" he asked his nephew, who continued to stride on along with a ostrich-horse leading behind.

"Uh- what?" Zuko glanced back at him, to which the simply sighed.

"I can tell when something is off. We were stuck on that ship for a long time." he reminded his nephew, who glanced back at him with slight annoyance before sighing, his face obscured by his wide straw hat.

"I'm worried." he simply admitted, Iroh chuckling at the obviousness of his statement.

"Yes, I can see that. About your mission?" he asked, the Prince immediately shaking his head.

"The Avatar is the furthest thing from my mind, Uncle."

"Then what isn't?" he asked, his nephew eyeing him, the silence gathering between them for a few moments before Zuko opened his mouth to sigh, obviously releasing his caring uncle wouldn't stop asking until he gave him an honest answer.

"Suki killed a man last night." he told him with a grimace, "She killed a man, for me." he stressed, Iroh sighing, understanding his nephew's aversion; ever since Lu Ten, he was sure that his nephew hadn't ever mentioned death or murder around him, knowing well enough what had transpired at the six hundred day siege of Ba Sing Se.

"I see..." he scratched at the end of his beard in thought, trying to think of a reasonable response to give to his nephew, "That is a very serious thing for someone to do. Have you asked her about it?"

"Yes. And she seemed fine about it, which scares me." he admitted, "I don't know how she could be okay with what she did. I don't want to make her feel bad, but it's just... it feels wrong." he furthered, Iroh nodding along with understanding.

"Well, was it wrong for her to kill that man? From what I've heard, it sounds like he was going to hurt you." he admitted, the Prince raising a brow at him.

"But you wouldn't have done that to him, would have you?" he asked, the retired general sighing at the dilemma Zuko had arrived at.

"Well... I would have tried to save you. That's the only thing I could do." he admitted in truth, unsure how to consider what his nephew had asked him in any other light, "I think it was very brave of her to do that."

"Yeah..." he mumbled under his breath, smiling with agreement.

His uncle looked back at him with a raised a brow, "So does that help you feel better?"

"Yes, Uncle. You're right. She was brave to do what she did, I shouldn't judge her for it." he replied with confidence, Iroh happy that his nephew was feeling better; after a few moments, he realised that his nephew hadn't broken his smile, something that seemed almost unnatural in his eyes, "It was kind of amazing."

"Amazing?" he asked his nephew, who blushed before turning away.

"She's a really good fighter. I don't know how I could have made it this far without her watching my back." he explained himself, the retired general giving his nephew a smirk.

"Well, is she good at anything else?" he asked, the Prince raising a brow at him.

"What is that supposed to mean?" he asked, to which his uncle chuckled.

"She does things other than fighting, doesn't she?" he asked, knowing there was a pretty obvious answer.

"Yes. Yes she does." his nephew admitted with a slight blush, before clearing his throat.

Iroh increased his pace, his smirk growing giddy, "Nephew! Is there something you're not telling me?"

"No. I don't need to tell you anything, Uncle." he stressed, the retired general giving his nephew a face of disbelief.

"Come on. Admit it, you like her." he prodded him, who became flustered, tightening his grip on the ostrich-horses lead as he tried to speed up his pace.

"I'm not admitting anything." he gritted his teeth, looking away from his uncle's wide grin.

He heard from behind a shout, recognising the voice as Amari's, "Hey! Slow down you two!"

The retired general turned around and gave her a curt wave, "Of course. We need to take a break sooner or later, don't we nephew."

"Y-yes... yes we do." Zuko admitted, slowing down his pace as the rest of the group caught up with them.

"Now, nephew. You're feeling better, so how about you thank your friend for saving your life?" he asked his nephew, whose eyes widened with fear.

"Oh spirits no. You better not mean what I think you're trying to say." the Prince looked at him as if he had said some highly inappropriate things; Iroh hadn't done anything of the likes- his suggestions for his nephew's relationships were just that, suggestions.

"What were you two talking about anyway?" Amari asked them, both of them eyeing each other before Zuko cleared his throat.

"Nothing much. The horrible weather."

* * *

Sitting by the warmth of the campfire, Suki smiled knowing that she had done her work for the day; the refugees were safe, their bellies were filled, and the threat of those Earth Kingdom soldiers was gone. She had been worrying in the back of her mind that something was going to happen- that other soldiers would come looking for them; she had murdered one of them in defence of Zuko, and she was sure the others weren't very happy getting their arses handed to them. The war was ever present in her mind, but she had never considered the events that transpired in that village to be possible; the men who were sworn to protect her nation bullying and harassing people for money and services, all to further themselves. She was comfortable with her actions, and was ready to deal with their consequences; the banished prince had seemed quite averse to her actions, and she could understand why; killing people was something no one could ever take lightly, even the Fire Nation, despite the stories she had heard. She found comfort in it, knowing that if someone like Zuko could come out of the Fire Nation, that they all couldn't be that bad; they weren't all vicious murderers hellbent on destroying the other nations, some of them had to be good people, like the two royals that were travelling with her.

Glancing at the spit, where a few refugees were helping Sawa with the food, she noticed the Prince standing there waiting in line; their eyes caught each other's momentarily, before his darted away, turning to get his food. She looked down at her own dinner, picking from the odd meal of preserved and fresh meat with some vegetables on the side; she missed the diet of fresh fish and rice that they primarily subsisted on Kyoshi Island, and was looking forward to when she could find some food like that. They were certainly quite far from the sea, but she knew that they'd probably eventually reach one; the Earth Kingdom didn't go on forever, and eventually their trekking would take them to their destination. She noted as she nibbled away at a piece of meat, that Zuko walked up beside her, indicating to the spot next to her.

"Can I sit?" he asked her, the warrior shrugging with a little smile curling on her lips.

"Of course. Nobody wants to sit alone." she acknowledged, after which he pulled himself down to a seated position beside her.

"Well, I'd never be alone." he muttered, his eyes turning to glance at his uncle, who was heartily conversing with a number of refugees.

She raised a brow at him, "So, are you okay, Zuko?" she asked him, wanting to clarify any problems he might have had from that morning, knowing their conversation was rudely interrupted by Nakata.

He smiled back at her, as genuine as he ever could, "Yeah, I'm good." he simply told her, "I- uh- just wanted to thank you. Properly." he stressed, the head warrior tilting her head and chuckling.

"Oh, is that so? I do distinctly remember you thanking my profusely this morning." she asked him, knowing he did thank her earlier that day.

"Yes- I did, but I- I wasn't in the right state of mind about what happened." he admitted, the warrior nodding along- his aversion about death was noticeable.

"I could tell. So you had some time to think?" she asked him, the Prince chuckling, before tilting his head toward his uncle.

"Well, I had my inner thoughts pushed out by an certain someone." he suggested, making her snicker; she knew his uncle was a positive influence on Zuko, "I shouldn't have criticised you, for what you did. You saved me, and I'm really grateful for it. You did something I never expected anyone to do for me."

"I help my friends. And you needed help." she assured him, the Prince smiling back at her, grabbing some food to stop the conversation further; as he chewed his bit of food, she thought that perhaps he wanted to say something more, but he was avoiding it, "Is there something else you wanted to say?" she asked, Zuko looking as if he nearly choked on a piece of meat as he heard her question.

After coughing for a few moments, he swallowed his food before glancing at her with an embarrassed face, "I- well I do want to say... uh-" he began to mumble, the warrior punching his shoulder playfully to draw out an answer.

"Come on- you can say it." she pushed him, the Prince cringing at her before finally making out some words.

"I like you." he simply uttered, "And I don't know what to do with my feelings." he admitted, the warrior blushly lightly before grasping his shoulder.

"Well I like you to, Zuko." she assured him, the Prince blushing a bright red, turning his eyes away from her, "And lucky for you, I know what to do with my feelings." she admitted, giving him a peck on the cheek, Zuko clearing his throat after she moved away.

"Y-you do realise the other warriors are watching, right?" he pointed out, Suki's eyes turning around the campfire, noting Amari, Nakata and Sawa all sitting in a line, looking at them wide-eyed.

"I can sort them out." she assured him, the Prince shaking his head with fear.

"Oh spirits, Amari's actually going to try and kill me now, isn't she?" he mumbled in lamentation.

"She isn't that bad. But she may try and fight you. You never know." she placed a hand on his shoulder, turning her glance back to the warriors, who were talking amongst themselves, "The Prince of the Fire Nation shouldn't fear the gossip of teenage girls." to which he gave her a slightly annoyed look, glancing back toward the other Kyoshi Warriors.

"I don't." he simply muttered, the annoyance in his voice making her chuckle.

"Oh, don't worry. I'm sure your uncle will have more to say about us than they will." she assured him, his face paling in thought, as if she had just told him the worst news possible.

"Please, don't say that."

* * *

The rocking of the boat made it hard for her to sleep, and Katara noticed immediately when her brother rose from his slumber; they had only left the Northern Water Tribe a day prior, and their boat trip south was likely to be long, but she had no worry for that- she was only worried about their safety. Sokka walked out of the room that they were sleeping in, making her raise her head to glance over at him, who didn't notice that she was also awake. Glancing over she noticed that Aang and Momo were sleeping, the lemur sitting on the airbenders chest; she was glad at the very least he was able to sleep, especially after his experience in the Avatar State. She followed her brother out of the room, approaching him as he stood on the edge of the boat, holding onto the railing as he looked up into the night sky- at the moon, as she was expecting him to. Katara didn't know what to say to her brother, who she knew must have been feeling a lot of different feelings about what had happened during the Fire Nation's invasion of the North Pole; Yue gave up her life to save the moon, and then Sokka ended up murdering the man who led it to happen in the first place. She understood the feeling well enough, however- she couldn't imagine what she would have done if she had the chance to fight their mother's killer; the Water Tribe girl knew well enough that she would deal quite a similar fate to that man.

"Sokka... Are you okay?" she asked him, the usually gruff acting warrior dropping his head down and sobbing.

"No. I don't know if I'll ever be okay." he admitted to her with a pained tone, Katara placing a hand on his shoulder, knowing that she needed to comfort him.

"Yue made a great sacrifice for the sake of the world. What she did, it was brave." she told him, unsure how to make him feel better about what happened.

"Yes- it was brave. But it was unnecessary. If we had just been able to hold off Admiral Zhao, then Aang could have easily defeated him when he returned from the Spirit World." he lamented to his sister, who knew that he was right in a way; they had fought hard, but their failures led to what happened- it had forced Yue's hand.

"I know you loved her, Sokka; you did everything you could." she stressed to him, her brother looking away from her, trying to mask the tears coming from his eyes.

"I- I tried to avenge her, but that- that only made me feel worse." he told her, looking back up toward the moon, "Would have she wanted me to do that? Was it even right?"

"I don't know, but that man, he was crazy. He had to be stopped." she concluded from her own thoughts on the situation; the crazy Admiral's plans had temporarily succeeded, and she knew that if Aang hadn't entered the Avatar State, and if Sokka hadn't dealt the final blow to Zhao, maybe Yue's sacrifice would have been for nothing.

"Zhao was evil. He was insane. So crazy that even his own people turned against him. His insanity cost Yue her life." he admitted, "Why did that Princess even let me kill him? She's Zuko's sister- this is the guy who tried to fight Zuko on Kyoshi Island; she had more of a reason to kill him than I did.

"Maybe she thought it was better you did it?" Katara thought aloud, really unsure as to what ran through the mind of a Fire Nation Princess, "Or... she wanted to watch someone else do it." she mumbled, considering the disturbing idea she had just described.

"That's- that is pretty stuffed up, Katara." he conceded, seemingly considering the thought to be as outlandish as she did, "I'm sure it was all some plan in the end, and we just got thrown into it."

"Well, she just cost the Fire Nation the conquest of the North Pole, didn't she?" she acknowledged with wide eyes, realising that importance of what the Princess had done; even if it wasn't technically treason against the Fire Nation, her actions had led to the Fire Nation's defeat, and if she had been less focused on Zhao, maybe she would have fought Aang instead.

"I guess we should thank her if we ever see her again. Treachery is a thing these royals seem to take lightly." he thought aloud, giving a chuckle.

"Maybe they all just really hate this one guy." she acknowledged, her brother sighing and shaking his head.

"I hope that's not the case. I thought we could rip the enemy apart from the inside." he lamented, making his sister roll her eyes.

"Oh, have you suddenly become fascinated with politics, Sokka?" she mocked his sudden confidence, to which her brother shook his head, giving her a smirk.

"No... just making some observations. You never know when these Fire Nation royals will come in handy."


	20. Reprisal

_"Perfect, Princess Azula."_

_Hearing the voices of Lo and Li in unison, she smirked confidently with her fingers pointing out, having just successfully generated a lightning bolt and fired it up above the training rounds; relaxing her form slightly, she turned to them and smugly grinned._

_"Now, what else is there for me to learn?" she quipped, her tutors looking at each other momentarily before turning back to face her._

_"The Fire Lord will be pleased with your progress." Lo told her._

_Li continued on right after her twin sister, "Firebending like yours hasn't been seen in a generation."_

_The two of them finished in unison once more, "A prodigy."_

_"Yes, I already know that." Azula rolled her eyes, casually turning around and sending out a beam from a clenched fist, the blue flames flying up into the air, the flames growing to unnatural proportions as they flew above the training courtyard, "Now, is that all you will be needing me for this afternoon?" she asked her tutors, who nodded, standing from their seated positions._

_"Yes, your highness." they told her at once, before walking off out of the courtyard, leaving her alone; she pulled a smile on her face, confident that she was more than able to prove her worth in a more practical manner to her father; other royals had done so before her- her stupid uncle's nickname didn't just come from nowhere, he earned it through victory._

_A few moments later an Imperial Guard entered the courtyard, lowering to a kneeling position before her, "Your highness, your father requests your presence." he explained to her, the Crown Princess nodding with understanding._

_"Of course. I will be there at once." she acknowledged, quickly picking up her pace as she strode on out of the courtyard and into the long hallways of the palace, taking the quickest route she could toward the throne room, where her father would be awaiting her._

_She reached the doors of the throne room soon enough, the Imperial Guards present immediately opening the doors of the room, well aware that she had been called upon by her father; she entered the long throne room, seeing her father's silhouette already awaiting her behind the flames. Azula approached her father without a word, before she reached a reasonable distance from his seated form, kneeling down in respect._

_After a few moments of more than concerning silence, her father's voice beckoned, "Rise, my daughter."_

_"Father, to what do I owe the honour of being in your presence?" she formally asked him, to which the Fire Lord remained silent for a few moments before he divulged the reason for calling her to the throne room._

_"I have just heard reports from the south seas that your brother's ship has been sunk." he simply told her, Azula refusing to show emotion to the news, despite the shock that she felt, "Your brother is officially missing, and I must congratulate you, my daughter. You are now the undisputed heir of the Fire Nation." he told her in a smiling tone; though she couldn't see her father's face she could tell he was being a bit smug about the whole situation._

_"I am honoured to serve my nation, father." she assured him, remaining silent for a few moments before deciding she ought to voice her concerns, "But if what happened wasn't an accident, then someone has attempted to murder your son." she stressed, the Fire Lord's snickering audible even with the flames drowning out most quiet sounds._

_"That is why as soon as I find out who did it, I will make sure that they pay for their treasonous actions." he assured her, the Princess smirking at her father's words._

_"Is that all, father?" she asked him, the Fire Lord nodding._

_"Yes, that is all, daughter. You are dismissed." he directed her, the Princess turning around and walking down the throne room back toward the tall doors, still lulling over her thoughts on the situation._

_As she approached the door, the Imperial Guards opened it once more, letting her leave and continue on down through the hallways of the palace, walking in a different direction to go back to her room; her pace fastened as she went along, her heart thumping in her chest- Azula didn't know what to feel, and it was driving her crazy. She maintained her calm exterior, however, and continued on down the palace halls all the way to the doors of her bedroom, where she glanced at the guards who stood outside, indicating for them to leave her be with one swift hand motion. She opened and closed her doors, glancing around her room, unsure what to do with herself; her mind was running all over the place as she sat herself down on her bed, her weight sinking down on into the linens, her heads reaching up to cup her cheeks. Now alone, she let her thoughts collect themselves, forming a single coherent question- was her brother dead?_

_"No. Zuzu is too stubborn to die." she assured herself, her face turning into a scowl, knowing the truth; someone tried to kill her brother, and she needed to find out who._

_She had spent so long despising her brother, and then a long time trying to make him into someone she wouldn't; then he was banished, taken away from his rightful home and place, even when he was only trying to be the perfect heir, just as she was. The idea that all of that had just led to him drowning at sea made her angry; it made her more angry than anything else ever had. Not her mother's disgust toward her, not her uncle's meddling with him, not even her mother's favouritism toward him; the fact someone had tried to kill him, taken away his chance to become the Prince he was always meant to be, the brother he was meant to be, it made her gut wrench with hate. That hate couldn't be directed, not yet, but it grew inside her like a disease; she pulled herself off of her bed, breathing in and out, trying to calm herself down, but it only revealed the blue flames coming out of her mouth as she gritted her teeth in anger. Clenching her fists, she stood up, flames growing around her hands; she opened her room's velvet curtains and looked outside. Looking at her faded reflection in the glass she turned her rather ugly looking scowl into one of determination._

_"They will burn. They will all burn."_

* * *

Azula had never expected to find herself behind prison bars in her life, but she knew that she was there for all the right reasons; Zhao was finally dead, and he would be remembered as the man who lost the North Pole because of his idiotic plan to try and kill the spirits. Although she had gotten out of the city unharmed, the Admiral's loyal lieutenants were less that receptive to her arrival when they had already found out what she did from the his surviving guards; she had been left alone for the most part since they placed her under arrest under the pretences of insubordination and treason, obviously knowing that she could probably kill every man on the ship if she wanted to. She for one needed a ride back to civilisation, and even if that was in a prison rig, it would be good enough for her; she had no idea how her father would react to the events at the North Pole, but she knew that the politically wise actions were- she had to be pardoned, or the idea that she had betrayed Zhao be squashed and ignored as a conspiracy theory. She still needed to capture her uncle and brother, and the Avatar remained on the loose; she was most certainly the only person in the Fire Nation capable of completing both those tasks with a little on top. Her long days and nights in the prison rig had given her ample time to consider what she could do to make it up to her father; Omashu was most likely already under Fire Nation rule, so she considered perhaps 'the big one' would be her only real choice. Ba Sing Se was named for it's walls, and she knew that she could overcome them if given the right resources and opportunities to use them; she would make her uncle's failings seem all the more disgraceful when she would take Ba Sing Se down herself. She momentarily considered the meagre possibility that her father might decide her to truly have committed treachery, and dispel himself over another unruly heir; as unreasonable as it sounded in her head, she knew that if it really did happen, she would make sure her father rue the day he let Zhao get away with trying to murder her brother.

"Why did you do it?" she heard a voice ask out, the Princess raising a brow as she pulled herself up from the bed she was lying on; before her cell stood a Fire Nation officer, someone of quite high standing, wearing the red sash of a Commander.

"Do what, exactly?" she mocked the officer's words; she had no time for lesser people, asking her questions that she didn't want to even answer.

"Kill the Admiral, let our invasion fall apart."

"Zhao was an arrogant fool, and it cost him his life." she simply told him, the officer grasping the metal bars with annoyance.

"But you murdered him, in cold blood. You betray the very nation you seek to inherit." he argued, the Princess scoffing at his suggestions, knowing that they were flat out wrong.

"I didn't kill Zhao, the Water Tribe did." she clarified, "If I wanted to claim his head for myself, I would have." he eyed him, the officer clearing his throat before continuing his poor attempt at an interrogation.

"They say you helped the Avatar." he told her, the Princess chuckling at the suggestion.

"Me 'helping' the Avatar was circumstance; I simply seized the opportunity to prevent Zhao from killing a spirit that held the world in balance." she lied, knowing that it was a reasonable argument in and of itself.

"Pfft- you sound like one of the people who actually believes that shit." he mocked her, "You're the Fire Lord's daughter?"

"Yes I am. And when I get out of this cell, I will make sure you pay for your misjudgement of my character." she simply told him, raising a brow in thought, "What's your name?"

"Commander Taizu." he told her, the Princess giving him a cruel smile.

"Well, 'Commander' Taizu, if you think that I'm going to rot in a prison cell for the rest of my life for some kind of treason charge, you are a fool." she mocked him, the officer's eyes opening wide.

"Wh-what? They all saw you do it." he exclaimed in disbelief.

"Treason by a common soldier is treason. But I didn't commit treason." she clarified, pulling herself up from her bed, "I ruined the man who thought himself above the law- the man who tried to kill my brother- who forced him to betray his own nation." her tone grew more angry, the thoughts behind why she had betrayed Zhao surfacing once more in her fury; her hands became set alight with blue flames as she gritted her teeth at Taizu, who stepped back in fear.

"Please, don't!" he pleaded to her, realising that she could probably kill him on the spot; she wasn't going to, but she relished in the fact that he thought she would.

Grasping the metal bars snuffed out her blue flames, but her fury didn't weaken, "I destroyed the traitor. If you and the rest of Zhao's cronies think I will stop now, just because of your 'laws', you are seriously mistaken."

"Wh-what are you going to do?" he asked her, the Princess chuckling as she moved away from the metal bars.

"I will wait. My father will pardon me." she simply told him, before a devious smirk grew on her face, "Or at least you should hope he will. Otherwise, I'm afraid I will have to kill everyone on this ship and make my way to the capital to challenge him to an Agni Kai. But my father isn't a fool, he wouldn't desire that eventuality." she stressed, Taizu stepping back in fear.

"I- you will not get away with treason." he told her, the Princess cackling in amusement.

"Oh, you see, I already have." she mocked him, after which he paced his way out of the prison rig with haste; she smugly looked on at his fearful escape, and resigned herself back to her bed, confident that she would reach port in the northern Earth Kingdom and be notified of her pardon.

* * *

Prince Zuko's eyes opened wide, gasping for air as he realised he had just had a nightmare; he wasn't usually one to have overly traumatic dreams unless they related to a very specific burning of his face, something that he refused to talk to anyone about, not even his his uncle. Rising from his bed, he put his face in his hands, feeling off about his dream; it was disturbing beyond belief- the most bizarre future he could imagine: he joined the Avatar, and they defeated his father together, but he ended up killing his sister with a lightning bolt. He didn't want to kill Azula, and that was what scared him; was his mind really preparing for that future, a world where he would be as willing as to kill his own blood all for the sake of fixing the world. Zuko shook his head, knowing that he would never kill his sister, pulling himself out of his tent, knowing there was two things that could help him- tea and meditation, and he didn't want to ask his uncle for tea before sunrise; the sky was barely a shade of blue, an orange tinge on the horizon indicating to him the sun was going to rise soon.

He walked out from his tent, over toward the embers of a small campfire, knowing that his meditation was best assisted by the use of firebending, and that he would prefer to have some light rather than walk around in the near darkness. He sat down next to the campfire, breathing in and out slowly, his bending connecting his breathing to the pulsation of the embers, which grew stronger with each breath. He took his thoughts back to his nightmare, lulling over it's suggestions; he knew that he couldn't return home and truly serve his father as the Prince he would demand him to be. Zuko was free, and he knew that with that freedom, he would become his father's worst nightmare; he considered that joining the Avatar was a possibility in the end, no matter how wrong in seemed for him to spell out. He knew that he needed to get home to try and figure out a plan; he couldn't do much to change the world walking around a vagrant in the Earth Kingdom. When his mind turned back to the idea that he would kill his sister, he shook his head, the embers before him lighting up.

"No. I'm not going to do that. I would never do that." he swore under his breath, feeling as when he said it aloud it was made more certain.

Zuko considered the idea of actually killing his sister to be so disgusting and heinous that it made is gut wrench; he knew at that moment that he had to get her to his side. What specifically defined 'his side' as anything different from her own plans for the Fire Nation was up for debate, but he knew well enough that she had greater desires than just to be Crown Princess. He knew they had to work together to fix the Fire Nation, something that made him realise the biggest problem between them; one of them would have to be crowned Fire Lord, and the other not. He was the eldest son and rightful heir, but he had no doubts that his sister was just as capable of being Fire Lord, although he was unsure if she would have the people's best interests at heart. He did know for certain that if they didn't work together, she would have to fight him and the victor of that duel would end up Fire Lord; the Prince did not lie to himself- he would most likely not win such a duel.

"What are you doing, lover-boy?" he heard Amari's mocking tone ask him, the Prince breaking from the trance of his meditative state; not that he was trying to be calm in his meditation, but his thought-process was cut and he turned to face her with annoyance.

"Meditating." he simply told her, "What are you doing awake before dawn?" he asked her, the Kyoshi Warrior chuckling, walking over to sit down by the warm embers beside him.

"I could ask you the same thing." she admitted, the Prince raising a brow at her with annoyance, forcing an actual answer out of her, "I had a rough sleep. Bed-bugs. Or something like that." she shrugged her shoulders.

"I'd prefer bed-bugs over disturbing nightmares any day." he told her, the warrior narrowing her glance at him.

"Nightmares, huh? About your shipwreck?" she asked, to which he shook his head.

"No. Far worse than that." he acknowledged.

"The scar?" she pointed, out, making him twitch in thought the moment his father's hand came down and burned his face.

"Thankfully, it was not."

"Then what was it?" she asked him with a curious tone.

"Doing something I never want to do." he simply told her, the Kyoshi Warrior rolling her eyes at his vague comments.

Amari's face turned smug in thought, "Oh, was it one of those dreams?" she asked him, raising her eyebrows suggestively, making Zuko cringe back in horror.

"Oh spirits no!" he exclaimed, his face turning away with a blush, "I- I didn't dream about that."

"I bet someone has." she commented under her breath, the Prince face-palming in annoyance; he did not want to think about the things that she was telling him, even if they got his mind off far more disturbing things.

"Shut up, Amari." he gritted his teeth at her, his glare intimidating her enough to make her stop making fun of him.

After a rather awkward few moments of silence, she cleared her throat and raised a brow at him, "So- uh- is this kind of meditation firebending-thingy normal?" she asked, the Prince sighing before giving her a curt nod.

"Uncle always told me meditation was the best way to let go of your emotions." he explained, the warrior narrowing her eyes with interest.

"Huh- 'let go of emotions'? Does this have anything to do with you know who?" she asked him, to which he exasperated.

"Urgh- no. This isn't about Suki. There's things scarier than teenage relationships, you know?" he asked her rhetorically, the warrior snickering at him and giving a wink.

"I wouldn't actually- never had anything of the likes. But feel free to give me all the juicy details." she smugly offered, the Prince shaking his head with frustration, knowing that Amari only seemed to want to take the conversation in one direction.

"I don't think you understand." he muttered in a condescending tone, "My nightmares never have anything to do with my present life, sadly. I'm being mocked by the past and taunted by the future." he acknowledged, the warrior giving him a rather sympathetic glance for a change.

"Taunted by the future?" she asked, her tone becoming more intrigued, "What happened?"

"Things I don't want to talk about." he gritted his teeth, knowing that he didn't want to reveal his innermost thoughts to the girl who mocked and threatened him on a daily basis.

"Well, I for one, am hopeful for the future. In the sense that the future is the next village we go to, which has be better than the one with the damn morons who tried to burn down our camp." she admitted, the Prince chuckling at her rather reasonable thoughts.

"I mean, that's fair enough. I hope these refugees find safety. We've gone too far for this all to be for nothing." he acknowledged, the warrior smirking at him.

"We've got the toughest warriors in the Earth Kingdom and two master firebenders to back us up." she bragged, although the brag was far more of a compliment in his eyes.

"Well I wouldn't call myself a master fire-" he begun, the warrior raising a hand to note a correction.

"Yes- not a master firebender. A master swordsman who can also firebend." she clarified, making him shrug his shoulders.

"Being a master of anything isn't going to save us from more moronic Earth Kingdom soldiers, or worse, the Fire Nation." he derided her rather hopeful attitude, making her pout.

"Don't be so sour. We can win if we fight hard enough." she assured him, to which he sighed with a sense of agreement.

Amari was right in the end; that was the kind of motto he lived his life by. Azula was the one who had the raw talent and skill, but he had the determination to make up for it; currently he had his determination fixated on a single idea. How could he save his sister, and still save the Fire Nation? He knew that there had to be an answer to his question, otherwise what was the point of even trying to change. If he couldn't make amends and work with his sister, then he would betray everything his mother had ever taught him; they were brother and sister- it had to count for something.

* * *

Suki wiped the blood from her dagger, feeling confident that her and the Kyoshi Warrior's hunting skills had improved; they had made a trap that ensnared quite a large animal, and they had enlisted the assistance of Zuko to help them carry it back to camp, which was a far while from the site where they had trapped the wild cat-deer. The creature was already injured badly by the trap when they had reached it, and Suki had taken it upon herself to put the creature out of it's misery; she took no pride in killing the animal, but she knew they needed the food- the supplies given to them by the grateful villagers would only last them so long, and getting back into the routine of making traps every afternoon after they set up camp was something she knew they needed to do.

"That's a big one." Sawa acknowledged, making the other warriors chuckle in agreement.

"Yeah, this ought to feed the lot." Nakata smirked, indicating to Zuko with a wave, "Come on, you said you'd come and carry." she taunted, the Prince sighing with a tinge of annoyance.

"When you said 'carry the food', I didn't think the animal would be this big." he acknowledged, making the other warriors snicker in amusement.

"Yeah, yeah. We can go pick some wild-fruits or something like that." Amari offered, the head warrior raising a brow at her.

"I don't want you getting us poisoned for dinner." she told her subordinate, who nodded with consideration.

"Actually... yeah. Death by fruit would be the stupidest way to go." she acknowledged with a smirk, the group breaking down into laughter, before they all got around the animal, tying up his forelegs and hindlegs to ensure it could be carried on a long stick.

Amari and Nakata shuffled the stick under the bindings, before Zuko grabbed one end and Sawa and Esumi both held up the other; Suki indicated for them to move forward, now with the animal bound up and ready to be carried. She approached Zuko, who looked to be struggling slightly with his end of the pole; grabbing the end of the pole, he gave her a glance before nodding in appreciaton.

"Thanks."

She shook her head and gave him a smile, "Don't worry about it. We'll get back quicker the easier it is to carry." she reminded him, the Prince nodding with a surprised face, respecting her judgement; she glanced at Nakata and Amari, who weren't carrying anything, "You two get back to the camp. I want the campfire ready by the time we get back." she ordered them, the warriors nodding with faces of relief, seemingly glad they didn't have to do the carrying.

"Yes boss!" Amari saluted her casually before dragging Nakata along as they raced uphill back toward the campsite.

Drudging up the hillside, Suki came to realise the soil was not the best for walking up, but they kept on moving forward, despite the dust that came up as they took each step up; she covered her face with a scarf she had been wearing around her neck. She glanced back and noted the others were doing the same; the constant dust clouds that came about from their marching around in the near-desert terrain meant they had to use makeshift headdresses to protect themselves from it. By the time they made it to the top of the hill, she was squinting hard to avoid getting the dust in her eyes, using her free hand to wipe the dust off her face; she and the warriors had begun to completely forgo wearing their make-up due to it getting quickly ruined by the constant dust that layered over their skin. Not that the make-up wasn't hardy enough to resist being besmirched by the elements, it was just that it became far less comfortable on her skin when it was layered with fine sand, and the ash from the constant campfires they had lit.

"This damn dust." Zuko grumbled under his breath, "At least we can see the camp from here." he indicated, pointing out with his free left hand toward the camp, which stood on the horizon in the distance, the sight of which was distorted by the heat emanating up from the ground.

"Not too much further." she agreed, the group picking up some pace as they made their way along the mostly flat terrain, and with less dust getting flicked up in their faces, they far more comfortable and in their element.

Walking on forward, she tightened her grip on the pole that held up the heavy carcass; Suki knew that they had gotten lucky with the cat-deer, and that they would need to be better prepared for hunting in the future if they wanted to make sure everyone would be fed. Ba Sing Se was far enough away for her to consider that the weeks more they would spend walking there would be treacherous; starvation was a bigger threat than the Fire Nation could ever be when they were trying to cross barren wilderness with nothing much more to offer other than spindly shrubs and a few lizards.

"How long can this feed us for, Suki?" she heard Esumi ask from behind, the head warrior glancing back with a grimace.

"I don't know. A few days at most, if we stretch it. We need to conserve as much of the rations as possible." she admitted, Zuko giving her a cringed glance.

"We're running low. But there's always the next village." he acknowledged, Suki looking at him with a sense of fear.

"I hope the next one's not as bad as the last. We've had enough violence on this journey so far."

"So do I." he simply acknowledged, the group falling silent as they continued to push onward, trailing along through the dusty field, winding between shrubs toward the edge of the campsite, which was clearly in view.

As they approached the campsite, a number of refugees came up to look at their prized kill, their hungry faces looking brighter with the arrival of their dinner; she felt a little bit happier seeing their hopeful faces. The worst thing that could happen to them now would be to lose hope- without it they'd be lost. The four of them took the carcass through the campsite, approaching the looming smokestack that had appeared only as they had got into the camp; she assumed that would be Amari and Nakata doing their jobs, and was proved right as the two Kyoshi Warriors came into view, putting sticks and other kindling onto the flames, directing around a few refugee children who were helping them carry all the sticks and leaves around.

Leading the group over to the campfire, she nodded with approval at her subordinates' handiwork, "Good job, girls. Now let's start cooking."

She and Zuko led their end of the pole to the make-shift mount, while Esumi and Sawa stood at the end, waiting for them to stop; she gave them a hand signal, and with it, the two warriors pivoted their end of the pole to place it on the other mount, leaving the carcass hanging over the fire.

Suki smirked with a sense of accomplishment, patting Amari and Nakata on their backs, "Now we can all rest, at least for a little bit." she assured them, the warriors all sighing with relief, Sawa and Esumi patting themselves down to try and get rid of the coating of dust they had received.

The head warrior stretched her arms out, appreciating the lack of weight over her shoulders, both literally and figuratively; turning around she noted that Zuko was walking off, he himself trying to get the dust off by patting his clothes, not to much success.

The warrior walked over to him and gave out a light chuckle, "Having a little trouble there, Zuko?" she asked him, the Prince glancing at her before sighing with slight frustration.

"Ah- this damn dust." he acknowledged, giving her an awkward smile, "I hope I'm getting back on repaying you for saving my life... again."

She snickered at his last word, reminding her that he had found himself in a rather similar situation of a life-debt once more, although this time he wasn't picking up firewood and cleaning dojos.

"Oh, you could say that." she suggested, "You were a good help just then." she acknowledged, but in such a tone that it expressed her slight dissatisfaction; she had wanted his help, and it was welcome, but there were other things she wanted help with.

"Oh- uh- did you want me to do something else?" he asked her with a cautious but curious tone; she pursed her lips with a rather devious thought.

"Oh well, we haven't done this in a while." she shrugged her shoulders, the Prince raising a brow.

"Done wh-" he begun to ask, finding him cut off by Suki grabbing his shoulder and throwing him down onto the ground in one swift motion.

As he reeled from her rather skilful movement, the Kyoshi Warrior begun to laugh at him, his surprised face something she found both hilarious and adorable.

"So you want to spar?" he asked her, the warrior winking at him.

"Something like that." she simply told Zuko, who narrowed his eyes at her with determination.

He quickly rolled up to his feet, throwing a glancing blow toward her shoulder, which she side-stepped with ease; she used the opportunity to jab him in the gut, though she did it lightly enough to not wind him. The Prince winced slightly, before stepping out of the way of a sweeping kick on her behalf; she caught up to him with a feigning jab from the right before pushing his left shoulder hard, forcing him to stagger back. She dodged a punch from the side, before grabbing Zuko by the collar of his tunic, forcing him to back onto a tree. He looked at her with an disenchanted grimace, making her smirk at him.

"What is it?" he asked her, the warrior remaining silent for a few moments before she pushed her lips against his own, her smirk remaining as she embraced him; Zuko's demeanour turned quickly from one of surprise to appreciation as he accepted her kiss.

They remained in embrace for a few moments, the Kyoshi Warrior grasping onto his shoulders, holding him in place as she enjoyed the moment; as she moved back, she saw his blushed face and gave him a little smile.

"I'm a little thick in the head sometimes." he admitted, Suki giving him a little smile, appreciating the humour Zuko could find in their situation.

"Oh, trust me, I know." she gave him a little grin, making him laugh off her comments, their faces still only a fingers length apart.

She felt as if their lips should rejoin, but she was interrupted by a familiar voice exclaiming loudly, "Zuko?!"

As she glanced to the side she noted Iroh's rather shocked appearance, and she also noted the growing dread on Zuko's face; his uncle gave them both a grin, but his face was more surprised than anything.

"Nephew, you didn't tell me you had a girlfriend!"

* * *

Glancing up to see one of her personal guards standing before her cell, Azula smirked with unbridled confidence; he didn't need to say anything, his presence was enough of an answer- she had won. Her game of brinkmanship with her father had come to a close, and the only casualty was Zhao; that was if you excluded the mass casualties at the hand of the Avatar, but Azula saw no wrong in that. It was excellent propaganda for the war- the Avatar massacred hundreds of Fire Nation soldiers, most of them non-combatants; for that the only winner was her father- their war cause was further justified and their morale boosted with hatred for the Avatar and his ideals at an all-time high. She was not to blame for the last airbender's actions, and she might have tried to stop him, if she had even wanted to; Zuko still needed to take him down himself, and seeing that her brother had taken some grasp of lightning generation, she assumed that it was only a matter of time before he would be capable enough to destroy even the master of the elements. The Princess smirked at the thought of the comeuppance she would bring upon her uncle, who might think his treachery in stopping Zhao was indicative of him taking the side of the Avatar; her brother wouldn't dare give up his only chance to take back his throne- he would return to his status of Crown Prince, or he would die a traitor's death.

"Your highness, your father has denied any allegations of you committing treason and has ordered your release." her guard explained to her, knowing that her suspicions were well confirmed.

"That is what I thought." she acknowledged, standing up from her seated position to let her guard open the door for her.

"Is there anything you will need to do before we return to the Royal Barge, your highness?" he asked of the Princess, who simply smirked as she raised a finger to her chin.

"Now that you mention it, I ought to address the men who were foolish enough to call me a traitor." she told him, her eyes lighting up with ruthless desire.

The guard simply nodded in acceptance of her plans, and proceeded to lead her along out of the small prison, taking her along the hallways that crossed underneath the battleship; eventually they reached a staircase that climbed up toward the bridge, the two of them walking up two floors to the deck floor, from where they exited the brig through a narrow metal doorway. Before her stood her entire unit of guards, who were accompanied by the officers on the ship, which simply comprised of Commander Taizu and his cronies; the Commander's eyes opened wide with fear as she begun to approach, making a hand signal to indicate for her guards to surround him.

"Please, no! Mercy!" he begged, realising what was happening; she simply approached him as her entire unit of guards formed a circle around Taizu and his lieutenants, who cowered in fear.

"Mercy?" she asked him in a mocking tone, "This is mercy." she clarified, blue flames dancing through her fingers, "I should have sunk your ship the moment you declared me a traitor." she gritted her teeth at him with anger, offended that someone could ever accuse her of treachery.

Even if what she had done was technically illegal and breaking rank, she was the Crown Princess; if someone gave reason to make her think them a traitor, she would destroy them, just as she had Zhao. The foolish Commander had technically not committed treason, and he would not be treated as such; even then, she did feel a powerful sense of distaste toward the man, and she knew that he ought to be punished for his behaviour.

As she approached him with her hands ready, the Commander staggered back in horror, "You are lucky you were just following the law." she assured him, "Otherwise this would be a lot more painful."

He looked at her with utter fear, mumbling under his breath, "What wo-" he begun to question, cut off by flame filled fist hammering into his head, throwing him the ground as he sputtered out blood.

She grabbed the nape of his armour, the Commander groaning in pain, "I am the Crown Princess. Remember this." she chided him, the officer grunting in acknowledgement, before she thrust his head into the metal deck, his noise audibly cracking as it was hammered into the cold metal surface.

Seeing that Taizu was knocked out cold, she glanced at his subordinates, narrowing her eyes, "Take this is a warning. Next time you speak ill of me, you will all pay with your lives." she glared at them, the other men nodding with understanding, quickly rushing over to grab their Commander, trying to drag him away, out of her sight.

She walked over toward the gang-plank of the ship, knowing that she and her men ought to get going; she had left her men out of the ordeal at the North Pole for a purpose. Their lives wouldn't go to waste when she was out doing treasonous things, and now she was back, she was sure they would serve her with undying loyalty.

One of her guards stood at the base of the gangplank, the Princess recognising him as the head of the unit, "Your highness, we are honoured to be graced by your leadership once more. Will we be setting off again?" he asked her simply, Azula smirking confidently.

"Of course. I can only let my brother and uncle run around the Earth Kingdom for so long that it becomes shameful." she simply told him, before she narrowed her eyes in thought, "But they should be glad it is I who is hunting them down."

"Why would that be, your highness?" he asked her, his tone understandably curious; she simply let out a chuckle before glancing back toward the ship where she had just dealt down her punishment.

"No one can shame the Crown Princess of the Fire Nation."


	21. The Romantic

_"Nephew, we've reached port."_

_His uncle's familiar prodding tone made Zuko twitch with annoyance; he knew the question he was about to ask him, and he was prepared to give him the same answer as usual. His breathing patterns that he had been undertaking to try and meditate- calm the mind, as his uncle might say, were interrupted and he was forced to look his uncle in the eyes, his face showing his distaste at being forced from his rather peaceful state._

_"Yes, what is it, Uncle?" he asked him with a tone of urgency; he didn't want Iroh to walk around the issue, he just wanted an answer._

_"Oh, I was wondering if you would like to join me going to the market? I need to buy some more tea." he explained himself, the Prince snickering in thought; of course his uncle needed to buy more tea._

_"Well, I was meditating..." he emphasised, to which his uncle made a cringed face, seemingly feeling guilty for interrupting; he sighed with annoyance, knowing it was better to let his uncle walk him around a market than have him join in Music Night again by force, "Fine. I'll join you. But no trinkets." he growled at him, who nodded rapidly, as to assure him he understood his single condition._

_"Of course, nephew. I only need tea." he clarified, Zuko chuckling as he rose to his feet._

_"That is something I can believe." he admitted, before his uncle moved out of the doorway to let him follow; the two of them made their way down the hallway before exiting out onto the deck of the ship, which was empty with the crew mostly idling about below deck or in the nearby market._

_They made their way down the gang-plank onto the dock, a long stone structure specifically designed to house larger ships like his own; following down the path of the mostly empty deck, his uncle turned to him raising a brow in interest. The Prince wasn't surprised when his uncle decided to begin conversation, knowing that the old man could never get enough time to chatter away at his nephew, proverbs and all._

_"So, nephew. Where are we off to next?" he asked him, Zuko sighing with a sense of disappointment; he had travelled to all the Air Temples, and scoured islands, coasts and even ventured into parts of the Earth Kingdom to look for evidence of the long last Avatar._

_"I don't really know, Uncle." he admitted truthfully, before his face turned into one of determination, "But soon enough we'll get another lead." he told his uncle, knowing he was assuring himself, not the retired general, who saw his banishment as little more than an extended vacation._

_"Perhaps looking amongst the other lands of the Air Nomads. They were 'nomads' after all. Maybe there's things around those islands?" Iroh suggested, to which he raised a brow._

_"That might help, Uncle. Maybe we can find evidence of where the survivors of Sozin's Comet went- that's the only lead I can think of at the moment." he acknowledged, the retired general scratching his beard with interest._

_"Yes, the last airbender would have likely gone with the other survivors, but most of them were captured decades ago. My father had no idea whether we had actually gotten rid of the last of the Air Nomads even he was my age- it was just a guess." he explained to his nephew, who smiled hopefully._

_"Let's hope he failed. As much as I wouldn't want to deal with any surviving Air Nomads, they're the only lead for finding the Avatar at this point." he acknowledged, his uncle nodding with interest._

_"If anything, we ought to be able to learn more about airbending, so if you ever do have to face the Avatar, you'll be ready to fight him. That is what you want, right?" he asked in clarification, Zuko remaining silent for perhaps long enough for his uncle to catch on to his relent._

_He stammered out in response soon after, "A-ah yes, Uncle. Of course."_

_The Prince didn't want to really discuss how frustrated and apathetic he had really become toward his quest to capture the Avatar; it seemed so out of sight that it was almost lying to his uncle to even tell him he was intrigued in searching some random ruins that might have belonged to the long dead Air Nomads. He was personally a little interested in looking at said ruins, but that inkling of desire was drowned out by his anger; he didn't want to keep searching around the world- he wanted his honour back._

_As they approached the end of the dock, the loud chit-chat that encompassed the market became quite loud, and Iroh indicated into it with a point of his finger, "I'm sure we'll be able to find some fine teas in there."_

_"Yes, Uncle." he begrudgingly agreed with a sigh, knowing that he really didn't want to have to go around looking for 'the perfect tea' with his uncle; tea was fine and all, but his uncle's obsession with it was unhealthy._

_As they walked into the market, Zuko became rather tense at the large number of people; not that he feared people, but rather that he felt like there were too many people watching him- looking at his scarred face. He pushed those thoughts out of his mind and just focused on following his uncle through the busy market, passing by a number of stalls that his uncle scanned over. The Prince looked around himself, but he took little interest in the trivialities that he saw; walking around a market with his uncle was simply a way to waste time while the crew was given their time to rest and enjoy themselves, something he assumed they didn't have much time to do when travelling the seas under his command. His uncle came to a stop eventually, tapping Zuko on his shoulder to indicate to the tea vendor that they had arrived at._

_"Nephew, this is exactly what we were looking for!" he assured him, before turning to the vendor with a wide grin, "Good morning, friend! I'd like to purchase some of your finest teas!"_

_The vendor was taken aback by Iroh's enthusiasm, something that didn't surprise his nephew in the slightest, "Uh- yes, of course sir. Any preferences?" he asked, the General smiling in thought._

_"Ginseng tea is my favourite. As much tea as this," he pulled out a bag of small Fire Nation coins, "will buy."_

_Both the vendor and Zuko's eyes opened wide at the sight of the rather large bag of coins, "Um- of course sir. That will get you about... four crates of tea." he explained, the retired general smiling widely, pushing the bag of coins forward._

_"Of course. I have a whole ship to make tea for!" he assured the vendor, his nephew stepping forward to intervene._

_"Uncle... you can't be serious. No one needs this much tea." he stressed, to no avail as Iroh shook his head confidently._

_"We do." he disagreed, the vendor pulling up one of the crates of tea._

_"Sir, I'm unsure if you'll be able to carry all of this tea back to your ship." he advised him, to which he shook his head, placing a hand on Zuko's shoulder._

_"You can go find some of the crew. I'm sure they'll be willing to carry some of this back to the ship." he advised to his nephew, who shook his head in defiance._

_"This tea is your problem. If you can't carry it, that's your problem." he gritted his teeth with frustration, the General sighing with disappointment, grabbing his bag of coins._

_"How about one crate then?" he asked the vendor, who nodded in concession._

_"Of course. A quarter of that bag will get you that." he explained, Iroh diving his fingers into the bag, pulling out the requested amount and placing them on the stall._

_"Thank you. I hope that you and your nephew have a fine day." he gave them a smile, Zuko grabbing the crate and forcing it into his uncle's hands._

_"Let's go, Uncle." he demanded, leading him along in the opposite direction back toward the port._

_After a few strides forward, his uncle caught up to him, giving him a face of concern, "Nephew, I believe you might be getting unreasonably angry over something as simple as a crate of tea."_

_"I'm not angry over the tea." he gritted his tea, "I'm angry that I'm in this situation to begin with. I used to be Crown Prince of the Fire Nation." he sighed with annoyance, the retired general chuckling at his comments._

_"Oh yes, I know the feeling, Prince Zuko. I was once Crown Prince, and I am glad that burden has been lifted from me." he admitted, the Prince raising a brow at his uncle's rather unusual suggestions._

_"Are you saying I ought to forget my identity? I am a prince. I want to serve my nation, Uncle, not carry your damn tea through some piss-poor port in this shit-hole of a country." he grumbled at his uncle, his tone quiet enough that the passersby didn't hear his rather offensive comments about the locale._

_"Trust me, nephew. One day you will be able to serve the Fire Nation, but first... we must do what we must." he acknowledged, Zuko sighing with frustration._

_"Yes, 'do what we must'. I hope you remember that when we finally track down the coward." he advised his uncle before he increased his pace, breaking out of crowd, finding himself at the port once more._

_"Perhaps you need a little more fun in your life, nephew." Iroh suggested, "You never know, you might find love in a place like this." he acknowledged, Zuko turning back to glance at his uncle before he spat on the ground below him._

_"That's what I think of your stupid market." he grumbled, pointing back to the ship, "We're going to go back to the ship, you can make your tea, I can meditate, and then maybe you can think about finding more enjoyable activities to bond over." he suggested to his uncle in a rather furious tone; he wasn't necessarily angry at his uncle, but rather at the annoyance of the mundane tasks he had to deal with that seemed so insignificant to what he used to be._

_"That was bonding?" his uncle asked him with a raised brow, "I just wanted to get my tea. That's all."_

_"Well you've got it, so let's go." he pointed toward their ship, to which the retired general sighed, walking ahead of him back in the direction of the ship; as he glanced back toward the market he simply scoffed at his uncle's prior suggestions, knowing that they were stupendous at the very least._

_"Love in a place like this? Who does he think I am? Ty Lee?"_

* * *

Zuko hunched his shoulders over, trying to focus on eating his dinner of charred meat and rationed rice, and not on his uncle's constant questioning about his relationship with Suki; he couldn't spend a minute without another drilling question about how he and her had come to be a relationship, or asking him about how all the times he had refused to discuss such topics with him.

"Nephew, why didn't you mention this to me? I'm your uncle! Your only uncle! Of all people, you can trust to confide in me!" he asked in an almost pleading tone, making Zuko cover his face with embarrassment- everyone was listening.

"Because you would act like this." he simply told him, the blunt honesty making his uncle feel offended.

"Like this? All I want to do is help you be the best version of yourself." he told his nephew with a tone of disappointment.

"I can be the best version of myself on my own accord, Uncle." he stressed, returning to eating his food; a few moments he saw Amari approach them, the Kyoshi Warrior placing a conciliatory hand on his uncle's shoulder.

"I understand what you're feeling, Iroh. Suki didn't tell me and the warriors anything for weeks, and even then we had to talk it out of her after we saw her and Prince Hothead smooching." she told him, the Prince frowning at her rather comical nickname.

"Don't- urgh..." he simply grumbled, Iroh ignoring his rather sour tone, glancing back at Amari with a sympathetic face.

"Can I ever forgive him for his... rather unfair judgement?" he asked her, Zuko continuing to frown as he funnelled food into his mouth, trying to ignore his uncle's comments.

"In the end, yes. But in the process, you can enjoy asking him all about it. Isn't that right, Zuko?" she asked him, to which he sighed with a tinge of anger.

"Please just leave me in peace." he asked his uncle and the annoying warrior, the latter of which patted Iroh on the shoulder before leaving them be, much to his relief.

"Nephew, you don't need to get so flustered. I just want to understand how my angst-filled nephew could find love." he asked the already angered Prince, his hands scrunching up as he took offense to his uncle's comments.

"I- I just did." he simplified the long and embarrassing story that he would rather tell his uncle at another time.

"You just did? Come on, there has to bit a little more to it. When did you first lay eyes upon her?" he asked Zuko, who spurt food out of his mouth.

"When I first what?!" he gasped in horror of his uncle's words, "I'm not a pervert, unlike yourself!" he gritted his teeth.

"How could you call your old uncle such a thing. I'm just a man who appreciates some love in this rather dark and cruel world." he defended himself, the Prince sighing with defeat, knowing that his uncle's argument was actually quite reasonable, even if he'd never openly admit that.

"Urgh... why do even want to know?" he asked him, his uncle giving him a smile.

"I just want to understand the story. There's always a beginning, isn't there?"

Zuko placed his hand over his face, disappointed that he had given into his uncle's questioning, but he knew that he wouldn't stop otherwise, "When I woke up, after being shipwrecked." he explained, his uncle nodding along with interest.

"That must have been quite the shock." he acknowledged, the Prince nodding, knowing his uncle's judgement.

"It was... I thought you might have drowned at sea." he admitted, with a sense of dread, reminding him of the feeling of absolute horror he had felt in considering that his uncle and crew might have gone down with his ship.

"So did I." Iroh acknowledged, reminding his nephew of what he had done to attempt to avenge him; going after Zhao was something that still surprised Zuko then, thinking that his uncle wasn't even capable of trying to kill someone, "What then, nephew?"

"I was put to work in exchange for the Kyoshi Warriors saving my life. We became friends, and she helped me stand my time there... she also cut off my phoenix-tail." he explained, grimacing in thought as he touched the back of his scalp where his hair was formerly tied up.

"Oh, I was wondering what happened to it. I thought you were just thinking about a new hairstyle." he suggested, the Prince chuckling.

"No Uncle. That phoenix-tail was part of my identity, it reminded me of who I used to be." he simply told him, before thinking back to 'his story', "That was a long time ago now. Suki was like my only real friend on Kyoshi Island, and then the Avatar happened." he grimaced, Iroh's face turning to one of distaste.

"You already told me what happened there." he noted, "You revealed yourself as a firebender." he recalled, the Prince nodding before thinking back to the single title Zhao uttered that set his entire escapade in the Earth Kingdom into motion, "And Zhao told them who I really was. Suki didn't trust me for a while after that, but we came to an understanding after that; I was able to tell her what I felt, my problems- she was someone I could trust, and she gave me some good advice." he explained before grabbing some food from his bowl to continue eating his dinner.

His uncle nodded along with interest, "So she was able to help guide you, let you see a path through the dark."

"I guess. She forced me to make the hard decisions. The ones... the ones that I should have made a long time ago." he simply replied, the retired general placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm glad you've found someone, Zuko. You really seem to like her... from what I saw." he noted with a little grin, the Prince becoming flustered as he turned down to continue eating his meal.

After a few moments of chewing, he swallowed his food and sighed, "Yeah, I do."

Iroh ate through some of his food before he stopped, clearing his throat and turning to Zuko, who immediately thought he was going to ask another embarrassing question of him, "Nephew, what did you exactly mean by 'hard decisions'?"

The Prince sighed with relief, and took a moment to consider his own statement, "I- uh- what I should really do... to redeem my honour." he told Iroh, whose eyes widened with shock.

"W-wait, nephew- you don't mean-" he begun to mumble, in disbelief from what he had just heard.

"Yes, Uncle." he placed a hand on his shoulder, "My honour is the same as that of our nation." he simply told his uncle, who smiled at his truth.

"So, you want to fix the Fire Nation?" he asked in clarification; Zuko nodded, his uncle narrowing his eyes at him, "How exactly?"

"What I wish you had done when you returned home from Ba Sing Se." he told his uncle with a biting and painful truth, but he needed his uncle to hear it- he was the one who had suffered because of it.

Iroh looked down, understanding Zuko's pain, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so selfish- Ba Sing Se, it changed me, and I couldn't be the Fire Lord my father would have wanted me to be." he acknowledged, tears falling down his cheeks.

"That's why I have to do it, isn't it?" he asked his uncle in clarification, the former Crown Prince nodding with a look of dread.

"That's why the Avatar must master the elements, nephew. He is the key to fixing... all of this." he indicated to the camp around them, Zuko nodding with understanding.

"I understand, Uncle. But there's something I need to before we can return home." he admitted, Iroh wiping the tears from his cheeks, looking back at him with confusion.

"You need to... what is more important than redeeming your honour?" he asked him, with a sense of confusion.

"To redeem my sister."

* * *

The Crown Princess of the Fire Nation was born lucky, so she wasn't surprised that she had escaped punishment for her actions at the North Pole; she hadn't had to face her father, because there was an understanding between them. Her loyalty couldn't be bought, it could only be earned, and the Fire Lord knew how she would have reacted if he had actually accepted her actions against Zhao as treason. She knew however, that she couldn't continue to make brash decisions like that if she didn't uphold her end of the bargain. Her uncle and brother were still on the run, and she was assuming they would be on the other side of the Earth Kingdom by the time she caught up to them; the Avatar was another opportunity that she would be willing to exploit- if she further antagonised him, perhaps he would act out against the Fire Nation and garner more hatred against him. Her father would appreciate her harassing the last airbender, and as much as she would prefer to see him in a dungeon deep under the Fire Nation capital, she also had to uphold her word to Zuko; his honour would be defended by her, and in time, perhaps hers would be by him. Eventually however, her brother would have to do something to finally deal with the little airbending boy who had the power to destroy Fire Nation fleets locked up inside him; she would very much prefer that something like that didn't happen again, knowing that it was not in her best interests for a crazy powerful twelve-year-old to be running around with a bent against the Fire Nation. The Avatar would find himself unlucky, as she was an even more powerful, and most certainly crazy fourteen-year-old with a bent against the enemies of her nation.

She stood upon the bridge of her Royal Barge, Lo and Li sitting behind her, both mumbling amongst themselves while she looked out to the wide open waters of the ocean; she grasped the railing of windowsill, trying to think what she should do next. Travelling distances as far as that village she had seen Zuko in last would take her a few weeks, and even if she got there as quickly as she could, there was no way he would still be there; he would have ran off with his little girlfriend to hide in the Earth Kingdom somewhere. She chuckled at the thought that he might be literally sleeping in the mud, fearing the day she would arrive; not that she intended to stop his little adventure just yet- he needed to be ready to face his destiny before any of that.

Lo and Li both uttered with an awkward tone, "Is something humouring you, Princess Azula?" the synchronisation of their words making her feel slightly uncomfortable; she would never get used to it, she acknowledged in her mind.

"I am just thinking what my traitor brother and uncle might be experiencing at this very moment. Starvation and misery, the dirty and ungraceful lives of outlaws." she mused, glancing back toward her old advisors, who both gave each other an odd look.

Lo spoke first, "Perhaps you might consider how you will go forward and find General Iroh and Prince Zuko." before her sister continued on her sentence.

"Your journey north, it has not helped your search." she acknowledged, before they concluded in synchronisation.

"You need to move quickly."

She smirked in thought of their suggestions, "Yes, you both are right- I do need to move quickly. They cannot evade me forever, and the threat of the Avatar looms large over us all. It would be best if I could handle my brother and uncle as quickly as possible." she admitted, knowing that her words did not reflect her true comprehension of the situation.

"Yes. We must be agile, like the raven eagle." Li suggested, before her sister added further.

"We must be unseen, but always ready to strike." she noted, the Princess chuckling in thought.

"I think I understand exactly what you mean." she told them, turning to grasp the railing, "You heard about War Minister Qin's new machine, didn't you?" she asked them, the two women remaining silent before Lo answered.

"The drill he intends to use to break Ba Sing Se's walls?" she asked, Azula rolling her eyes.

"No, not a drill. A flying contraption." she clarified, her advisors looking at each other before back at her.

"An airship." they gave her the name she was looking for; she gave them a narrowed glare, her lips curling with thought.

"Flight is what our ancestors used with the mighty dragons; it gave them an edge that only the Air Nomads could compare with. Now we have an opportunity to even the odds." she explained, "I would like to organise the acquiring of one of these 'airships'." she noted, the two of them nodding with comprehension.

"Should we send a message to the Capital Engineering Corps as at once?" they asked her, the Princess nodding.

"Yes. I will want it shipped down toward Omashu, that's where my brother was near last." she clarified, Lo and Li's eyes widening at the mention of that certain Earth Kingdom city.

"Haven't you heard, you highness?" they asked her, Azula raising a brow, "Omashu surrendered three weeks ago, just after the battle at the North Pole."

She smiled in thought, "Well that makes my plans a little easier. What happened there?" she asked, Li beginning to explain.

"The cities' king surrendered before the Fire Nation even breached the walls. Our glorious armies took it within an hour after that." she told her with a smirk of pride, her sister continuing her story.

"Yes, and then with that, the king was imprisoned, his palace destroyed and a new Fire Nation governor and garrison came to take his place." she furthered, the Princess raising a brow.

"And which noble servant of our nation was granted the honour of governing the last outpost of the 'mighty' Earth Kingdom outside their capital?" she asked in a tone that was rather derisive of the stature of the achievement of conquering Omashu; it had held out for a long time, but victory by the fluke of the cities ruler being insane was no victory at all.

The two of them answered in unison, "Ukano." making her eyes widen with interest.

"Mai's father. Hmph- this might come of some use to me. We should set course for Omashu immediately. I have some allies I need to recruit for our daring mission." she smirked at them, who bowed at her before leaving her alone on the bridge; she considered the implications of bringing Ty Lee and Mai along to capture her brother and uncle, reminding herself of a certain fountain incident that she looked rather fondly upon in hindsight.

"This is going to be... interesting."

* * *

Looking into the fire that flickered before her, Suki felt it's warmth and smiled, knowing that they were fed and safe; she picked out from her bowl of food in her lap, noting that it was nearly empty. She thought back to the full belly and bountiful meals that they would have at her village; they weren't rich, but they weren't ever worrying about their dinner. The Kyoshi Warrior felt glad that at the very least they were all eating, but her focus on the flames was cut short by Amari stepping in front of her.

"Hey, boss. Your boyfriend is being interrogated, are you gonna help him?" she asked Suki, who rolled her eyes at her suggestions; she wasn't exactly used to calling Zuko her boyfriend yet, but she knew after thinking about it, that was probably the most appropriate title.

"I'm sure he can handle himself. Iroh isn't going to be an ass about it- unlike yourself." she told her subordinate, who looked away with embarrassment, knowing that her behaviour wasn't helping anybody.

"I'm- uh- sorry, Suki. I'm just trying to make sure he doesn't be an ass himself." she clarified, the head warrior raising a brow at her suggestion.

"Oh really?" she sarcastically asked her, picking up the last of her food with her fingers before chewing it down.

"Y-yeah. I'm looking out for you." she assured her, Suki sighing, knowing that there was at the very least some kind intentions in her friend's heart.

"Thanks... now sit down and eat your food." she directed, the warrior giving her a curt nod.

"'Course, boss." she accepted, sitting down with the other warriors.

A few moments later, Sawa turned to her, with a face of interest, "So, Suki... are you going to smooch a little more with Zuko?" she asked her with genuine curiosity, the Kyoshi Warrior blushing in thought of what she had done earlier that evening.

"Uh- I don't know. That's no one's business but mine." she refused to answer, making her fellow warrior snicker.

"Just give your lover-boy a little forewarning. You might scare him to death with your lips." she joked, the two of them laughing at the idea.

"I mean, it'd be pretty funny to see his face go all antsy again." she suggested, the warrior giving her a wink.

"Well, you never know until you try it." she acknowledged, Suki nodding with agreement.

"Then I guess I ought to." she gave her a little devious smile, her fellow warrior twitching her head to the side to indicate across the campfire.

"Go on, then. I'm sure you can save him from his uncle. Maybe ask him to make tea- we'd all like that." she suggested, Amari piping up across from them.

"Yes, we would!" she assured with a grin, the other warriors laughing at her antics, making Suki roll her eyes.

"Fine, fine. I'll go ask for some tea." she accepted, pulling herself up from her seated position to walk around the breadth of the large campfire, making sight of Iroh, but noting that Zuko wasn't sitting with him.

His uncle immediately made sight of her, and from his reaction, she assumed that they had been talking about her; she approached and sat down beside him, the older man giving her a courteous smile.

"Good evening, Suki. Were you looking for my nephew?" he asked her, the warrior shaking her head.

"No, actually. The girls are getting impatient and were asking for tea." she deflected, his eyes widening with interest.

"Tea? Of course, I can make them some tea." he confirmed, making her give a small smile in recompense.

"Thanks." she simply told him, remaining silent for a few moments, before he twitched his head to indicate behind him.

"I think my nephew is waiting for you back there." he suggested to her before pulling himself up and walking around the way she came toward the warriors.

She glanced around out away from the campfire into the dark, unable to make out much but the silhouettes of the various tents that formed their campsite; walking forward away from the light of the festive campfire, she was able to make out more shapes, eventually able to find a path, leading herself back toward the tree where she had kissed Zuko. She blushed in thought of what she had done, and thought she ought to find another suitable time to make a move; fighting was thrilling, but what she had done to him was just as so. Turning around a corner she saw the boy she was looking for, standing by his lonesome, leaning on another tree as he looked up into the starry sky above them.

She approached him from behind and decided to make her presence known instead of scaring him, as funny as it might have been, "The sky looks nice, doesn't it?" she asked him, the Prince glancing her way and giving her a little smile.

"Yeah. It does." he simply acknowledged, before she walked up toward him, giving him a conciliatory smile.

"I hope your uncle wasn't giving you too much of a hard time." she admitted, Zuko simply chuckling at her words.

"Yeah, he was as bad as you'd expect." he sighed, "I- I had to explain a lot of stuff, and it made me say things I've been thinking about for a while now." he told her, Suki moving closer, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"About your quest? Going back home?" she asked in curiosity, the Prince sighing before nodding.

"Yeah... I can't just go and betray my father just like that." he admitted, Suki narrowing her eyes at him, feeling shocked by what she was hearing.

"B-but, Zuko- what he did, you can't just forgive that." she mumbled, to which he shook his head, turning to her with a serious face.

"No- no- it's not what you think. If I betray my father truly, and go and fight against him, then I'll be forced to fight my sister." he told her, the warrior thinking about his words for a moment before nodding in assurance; she didn't understand his relationship with his sister, but he knew that he didn't want to harm anyone he didn't think deserved it.

"So... you want to make sure she's safe?" she asked him, who nodded in confirmation.

"I have to do what is right. My mother would have wanted us to forgive each other for our childish conflicts, and work together." he explained himself, Suki's eyes widening in thought.

"But how? No offense, but your sister seems pretty... out there." she told him her thoughts bluntly, knowing that he couldn't just think she'd betray their father like he would.

"Yeah. I don't know how I'll do it. But I'll find a way. I always find a way." he assured her, the warrior giving him a hopeful smile.

"That's- that's good, Zuko." she told him, placing a hand on his shoulder, "She shouldn't be your enemy. She isn't the real enemy." she told him, the Prince nodding with understanding, his eyes visibly showing the sense of pain he was feeling.

"I- I know." he told her, sighing before glancing back up toward the sky, "I just feel like there's some disturbing fate awaiting us, and I'm going to blindly run into it." he admitted, Suki shaking her head, not agreeing with his fatalism.

"You're not fated to do anything horrible. You're not your father." she simply told him, "You're Prince Zuko. The awkward, banished prince with a knack for

swords." she gave him a smirk of assurance.

He gave her a little laugh, "Ah, I guess that's me." he acknowledged, before wiping his hand over his face, "I'm- uh- a little tired."

She shrugged her shoulders indicating back toward the tents, "Well, it is time we all ought to go off to bed, isn't it?"

"Yeah..." he mumbled, before he gave her a little blushed face, "Uh, I wanted to ask- uh- if you could..." he began to explain himself, Suki raising a brow at him.

"I could..." she begun to repeat him, her face blushing red when she realised what he might say to her; upon seeing her reaction, he shook his head vehemently.

"N-no- I didn't mean it like that." he stressed, "I just wanted to ask if you would lie with me. I don't- I don't want to be alone." he simply told her, the warrior looking at him with sympathetic smile, grabbing his right cheek with her hand.

"You'll never be alone." she assured him, before she led her hand to grab his, leading him back into the campsite.

They remained silent as they returned to the small corner of the campsite where Zuko's tent was pitched, the Kyoshi Warrior moving out of the way to let him into his tent, pulling the fabric aside to lie himself down; she followed soon after, lying herself down on her back right beside him. In each other's presence, she felt a certain sense of calm, not that different to that which she found after drinking a cup of tea; it was sweet, and she treasured that sense of belonging in her heart. After a few moments, she heard him breath in and out deeply, as if he was relaxed for the first time that entire night.

"Thank you." she simply told her, before turning his head to look at her, "This... this is nice." she gave him a curt smile in return, knowing that he was right.

"You're nice- don't forget that."


	22. Arguably Altruistic

_Prince Zuko grit his teeth as his forearm held against his sister's, the heat of each other's flames pouring out making his eyes water; Azula's glare was domineering as ever, not intimidated by his display of power. He pushed his arm forward with a jolt of force, his sister ducking under his beam of flames as it dropped downward; she kicked her foot up into his hand, cutting off his beam temporarily, leaving him with no defences from her next attack. She sent out a jab of fire, the ball singing the side of his tunic, and pushing him back slightly, before she uppercut him with a flame-powered punch, the Prince's head ringing from the glancing blow. Stumbling back he grabbed his forehead, cringing from the stinging pain he felt over his face; he raised his free hand to indicate Azula to stop hitting him._

_"Argh! Stop it Zula!" he demanded, the Princess snickering at his angry command, standing before him in a triumphant pose._

_"Oh, so you're giving up?" she asked him in a mocking tone._

_"W-well, yeah. If you're going to burn my face off, why should I spar you?" he asked her rhetorically, the Princess rolling her eyes at his relent._

_"I'm preparing you for the real thing." she reminded him, the Prince shaking his head with frustration._

_"If I ever go off to war, I'm pretty sure I won't need to be firebending to save my life." he acknowledged, his sister shaking her head with disappointment._

_"Zuzu, why are you being so thick-headed? You need to be prepared for the worst, so you can fight your best!" she demanded of him, the Prince making a frowning pout, both frustrated with his sister's comments and his own lack of skill._

_"Urgh.... fine- you have a point." he conceded, taking firebending form once more._

_"Oh, there's the Zuzu I like to see." she smirked at him, before sending a kick of flames at him, the Prince dispersing the attack before sending a fire blast at his sister's feet, forcing her to take a new stance; using the opportunity of time, he formed two charged blades of fire, before sending them out in a cutting motion, the flames barely held back by his sister's own powerful bending._

_Azula sent a ball of flames at his head, the Prince sidestepping the attack before making another lighter cutting motion, the flames dispersed in half by a simple swipe of her hand; she jabbed at him again, trying to strike his extremities, the Prince narrowing his shoulders and dodging her moves. He took the chance to kick at her, a splash of flames hitting her shins, making her stagger back in an attempt to not fall on her face; the Princess remained standing, gritting her teeth before sending two beams of fire out of each of her hands, her brother deflecting the blasts by grabbing her wrists. She held on pushing the flames from her hands, the powerful beams still not hitting her brother, making her scowl with anger; before she could do anything however, he broke his hold and jabbed her with a fire powered punch. She winced in pain, before returning to her usual confident smirk as she kicked her brother in the shin, making him scream out in pain. Before she could make a final strike on him, in his flurry of pain, Zuko breathed a spurt of flames out his mouth, the unexpected attack forcing her back, before he jabbed her right in the sternum with a fire powered punch, throwing her to the ground._

_"G-good job, Zuzu." she acknowledged his ability, her brother panting with a sense of relief, feeling that he proved himself against his sister; her eyes narrowed at him, "But not good enough." she warned him, a moment later a flame powered kick flying upward, striking his jaw and throwing him off his feet, falling down to the ground just as she had._

_"Oww... that hurt." he acknowledged with a cringed face, touching his singed jaw; Azula returned to her feet and chuckled with a mocking tone of confidence, looking down at her brother with a sense of pride._

_"You did good, brother, but you have to remember: your opponent won't stop until they're down, for good." she advised, the Prince shaking his head._

_"I- I'm not going to burn you just for the sake of it." he simply told her, "I won't relent when it comes to that snake, Zhao." he assured her, the Princess smirking at his confidence and determination._

_"That's what I want to hear. Now, do you want to try that again?" she asked, the Prince shaking his head, happy with the small victory he had achieved._

_"Nope. I think I'll go read a book instead of getting my hair burnt off by you." he refused, his sister giving him a joking pout._

_"But we never get to play, Zuzu. Why won't you play with your little sister?" she asked him, the Prince rolling his eyes at her tone; she was speaking like how she used to when she asked for stuff from their mum, pulling the baby eyes to boot._

_"No, thanks. I don't want to fall in a fountain again." he shook his head, not wanting to think about that last time he had been forced to 'play' with Azula._

_"Oh, but that would be funny. But we don't have any crushes for you to fall into a fountain with." she suggested to him, the Prince turning red at her suggestion._

_"Ah, no. Mai's just your friend." he stressed, making his sister smugly look at him._

_"We both know that's not the truth." she jested, the Prince shaking his head, refusing to have that conversation with his sister._

_"I'd rather fight you than talk about anything like that." he deflected, his sister raising her hands nonchalantly giving her a face of false surprise._

_"Oh really?! Wow, thanks Zuzu!" she put on her fake 'baby voice' again, before she threw a fireball at his head, the Prince ducking under it; his eyes widened with realisation in the mistake he had just made._

_"I take that back! I take it back!"_

* * *

"Azula! You're back!"

The Crown Princess of the Fire Nation cringed as her friend pounced on her, giving her a near lung-crushing hug; she winced from the embrace, and pushed Ty Lee off gently after a few moments. She knew that she would be happy to see her, but she hadn't expected the acrobat to be that happy.

"Yes- I am." she confirmed, although she didn't need to say anything, "I'm going back to look for my brother and uncle- again." she stressed, making Ty Lee raise a brow at her.

"I thought you said you were getting your father off your back." she asked with a sense of confusion, Azula glancing at her Royal Guards momentarily, realising the rather blunt thing her friend had just said.

"Um- well I did. Our plan worked a charm, but I took matters into my own hands at the North Pole." she explained, Ty Lee raising a brow.

"Oh yeah, they've been talking about the circus all about that. The Avatar destroying a whole fleet!" she exclaimed, seemingly amazed by the possibility.

"Well that's not just what happened. I betrayed Zhao, let the Water Tribe kill him." she clarified, the acrobat's face going from cheery to dreading in the span of a second.

"Y-you did what?" she mumbled, Azula clearing her throat.

"I let them kill him- they would have found more enjoyment out of it than me." she simply told her friend, who still looked aghast.

"So is that why you're back?" she asked, the Princess nodding.

"My father had to deny any allegations of my supposed treachery. I spent a week in a prison cell because of my actions." she admitted, Ty Lee giving her a hug.

"That must have been awful. Are you okay?" she asked her pleadingly, sounding seriously concerned about her welfare.

"I'm fine Ty. The whole thing was over very quickly, and I beat the daylight out of my captor when I was set free." she acknowledged, thinking she got a decent trade in getting to batter up the self-righteous Commander Taizu.

"Oh..." she mumbled, seeming to be unsure how to respond, "So you're going to try and find your brother and uncle?" she asked in clarification.

"I need to prove my worth once more. And it seems the Avatar will likely be prowling about the Earth Kingdom. If I can find him too, that will be two problems solved in one." she clarified, the acrobat's eyes widening.

"His quest." she mumbled, her rather uneasy face turning into a smile of hope, "Oh- I see what's going on."

"Of course you do, you're a smart girl, Ty Lee." she complimented her, before turning around to indicate toward her tank-train, "Now, are you ready to travel once again?" she asked, to which Ty Lee gave her a grin.

"Of course. I've had my bags packed ready in case you came here again." she assured her, turning to point to the circus tents behind her, "Let me just get my stuff, and then we can go and cause a little more chaos." she assured her, the Princess smirking at her friend's enthusiasm.

"That's exactly what I was thinking." she agreed, the two of them sharing confident and approving smiles at each other before they went their separate ways, the Princess turning around to face the mountains around the circus site, while Ty Lee quickly raced to her living quarters to get her things; unlike the last time she was at the circus, her friend was far more willing to join her mission, perhaps understanding her intent to be rather altruistic, if one could ever call Azula that.

The Princess's mind wandered somewhat as she stood there, watching the clouds blissfully float by; she knew at heart that her mission was intended simply to redeem her brother's honour, and nothing more, but in effect, she had caused so much havoc and acted against her father's express will to the point at which she could be considered more of a traitor to her nation that her brother had ever been.

She looked up and wondered aloud, "At this rate, am I the greatest threat to the Fire Nation?" she however dismissed this thought immediately, knowing that truly she was her nation's saviour; she would end the war finally, defeat the Avatar, return her brother to his rightful place to have her name echoed in the annals of history.

"Azula, I'm ready!" Ty Lee's voice piped up behind her, the Princess glancing back at her, the acrobat's face turning to one of confusion, "What were you just mumbling about?" she asked, to which Azula shook her head.

"Not about you, if that's what you were thinking." she clarified, "I am an honourable friend- I wouldn't dare dishonour your name behind your back." she assured her, the seriousness of her response confusing Ty Lee slightly.

"Um- thanks?" she gave her a forced smile, before grabbing her shoulder and beginning to walk with her back toward the tank-train, "Let's go. I'm sure you're on a tight schedule." she acknowledged, the Princess snickering in thought.

"Actually, being as slow as possible would probably work in our favour, but my father would get suspicious." she considered, "My brother is probably getting anxious about returning home. The quicker we find him, the more of a brother I'll have left to return to the Fire Nation; I can't have my uncle blemishing the my only brother's iron-willed determination with his stupid proverbs and tea."

"I'm sure he's fine." Ty Lee assured her, the Princess scowling in thought.

"That's what worries me, Ty. He can't be fine, out in that dirty wilderness fending for his life." she admitted.

"He has that cute little girlfriend of his, doesn't he?" she asked, the Princess raising a brow in thought.

"Oh yes, the Kyoshi Warrior- Saki, was it? No. Suki." she reminded herself of the warrior they had encountered, the one that Ty Lee had explained in hindsight was a girl that kissed her brother.

"They looked so cute together." Ty Lee declared, "I'm sure you have to find a boyfriend in recompense to prove you can make a better couple with someone!" she piped up, the Princess shaking her head with disapproval.

"Urgh- of all the things I want to deal with right now, teenage romance is not one of them." she stressed, deflecting such stupendous ideas away instantly, "But Zuko's new little relationship provides us with a way to wedge him away from Uncle. To get him to our side." she clarified, the acrobat looking at her with interest.

"Oooh! How?!" she asked with genuine curiosity, leaning in uncomfortably close to Azula with wide eyes.

"Well, I'm still working on my plan. But I think that if Zuko really loves this girl, we can give him an ultimatum: it's either his lover or Uncle, and he'll have to choose her." she smirked in thought, Ty Lee looking at her with intrigue.

"Ah, a romantic tragedy, but with a little less tragedy- maybe. I'm unsure." she mused, making Azula snicker at her comments.

"Something like that, Ty. Something like that."

* * *

"Full Moon Bay. We finally made it."

Nakata's sigh of relief was something that Suki agreed with fully; after weeks of travelling across the dry and desolate interior of the Earth Kingdom, they had finally arrived at the ferry port that would take the refugees to Ba Sing Se. The secluded port was situated between cliffs on the coast of the East Lake, protected by a sizeable number of Earth Kingdom soldiers, and housed hundreds of refugees at any given time, waiting to travel to the last truly safe place in the whole Earth Kingdom. The Fire Nation hadn't taken the city yet, but not from a lack of trying; she and the other warriors knew that Iroh would be feeling uncomfortable, as he was the last Fire Nation General to attempt to take the impenetrable walls, which ended in disastrous failure. Zuko had mentioned it to her a number of times, although he didn't exactly make out why his uncle relented on his siege of the city; she didn't want to ask now, knowing that they had to stay on focus. The group walked their way toward the entrance, where the Earth Kingdom guards used their bending to allow the group to enter; she felt at ease seeing the refugee group file into the waiting area.

"We're finally here." she told her warriors, who gave her hopeful smiles.

"Now we can rest." Iroh commented, the warriors nodding with agreement, Amari approaching him with a grin.

"Does this mean it's tea time?!" she asked, the retired general laughing and patting his belly.

"It most certainly is." he assured them, the Kyoshi Warrior thrusting her fist into the air with excitement.

"Don't get too excited, girls." she warned them, "We've still got a job to do." she explained, the warriors looking at her with slight confusion.

"So what are we doing now then?" Esumi asked her, "We protected the refugees. We're not going to Ba Sing Se, are we?" she asked, the head warrior chuckling as she shook her head.

"No. We need to help make sure all the refugees coming this way are safe. This place could use some extra security, and we have the experience, don't we?" she asked them, the warriors smirking confidently.

"Yeah, we can take on ash-makers any day of the week!" Amari piped up, before she turned to Iroh and Zuko with a rather conciliatory bow, "I mean no offense."

"None taken." the old general conceded, his nephew raising a brow at him, before shrugging; it seems he didn't want to start an argument with the conflictive warrior, especially now they were in a public place.

"Now, you can all laze about for the mean time, I've got to go talk with whoever's in charge here." she conceded, the warriors all turning to Iroh, who pulled out his tea pot with a grin.

She smiled at the happy mood the warriors had achieved in reaching their goal, but immediately turned her heels to approach the ticket station, walking past the line, much to the ire of the refugees who were standing there; the ticket officer, an older woman with a rather sour face, looked at her with confusion.

"Hey, what are you doing jumping the line?" she asked Suki, who shook her head.

"I'm not going to Ba Sing Se. My warriors and I have just arrived from escorting refugees." she clarified, the lady huffing at her comments, still annoyed, "I was wondering if we could work here- help protect this place and make sure the refugees are safe." she furthered, the officer looking at her momentarily before shaking her head.

"Not in that bombastic outfit." she told her, "You and your friends go talk to the quartermaster. He'll give you uniforms and tell you the rules. Got it?" she asked her in a rather snappy tone, the head warrior giving a curt bow, and replying.

"Got it. Thank you." she simply told her, before turning around and walking back toward the warriors, who were sitting around in a circle while Iroh and Zuko served them tea.

Approaching the group, she sat down in their circle, all of them looking at her with interest; the Prince raised a brow at her, "So what are we doing now?" he asked, the warrior sighing, feeling annoyed with the ticket lady's attitude.

"We need to get some uniforms and learn the rules, but other than that, we're okay to work here." she clarified, the other warriors glancing at him with slight confusion.

"Wait- so you're going to work here with us? Aren't you and Iroh on the run?" Nakata asked him in clarification, the Prince nodding in affirmation.

"Uh- yeah. I'd rather stay here and help people than doing spirit's know what in Ba Sing Se." he stressed, glancing at his uncle, "If that's okay with you, Uncle."

Iroh was surprised that he was being addressed, just having finished pouring everyone's tea, "Oh- me? I'm fine staying here. As long as we are safe, which- uh- I think it's safe here." he acknowledged, his nephew nodding with agreement.

"I think it is. The Fire Nation hasn't found this place, yet." he noted, Suki furrowing a brow.

"Yes- that's what we're probably going to be dealing with. I'm sure the Fire Nation would be sending scouts this way to try and stifle the Earth Kingdom." she acknowledged.

The group drank their cups of tea, Suki glancing a few times at Zuko; she was unsure how he was feeling at the moment, but the fact he wanted to stay with them at Full Moon Bay, which in all honesty wasn't the best place for anyone to be, showed her that he still wanted to be with the Kyoshi Warriors, and her. She had a growing fear that his mission- his plan to fix the world- it might eventually get in the way of their relationship; he spoke of helping his sister, helping the Fire Nation, ending the war, like it was just around the corner, and she had no idea how the Warriors would be involved in it. She was fine helping around at Full Moon Bay for a bit, but she knew they would eventually need to move on- Zuko's goals weren't their priority at the moment, but eventually he and his uncle would need to do something- perhaps something drastic.

After finishing her tea, she glanced at the warriors, "So, do you all want to go and get our new outfits?" she asked them, the warriors looking uncomfortable as they looked down at their warrior garbs.

"I'm really going to miss my armour. It's almost like a part of me." Sawa acknowledged, Amari nodding with agreement.

"We're not going to be the Kyoshi Warriors anymore. We'll just be the ferry guards." she considered with a pout.

Suki shook her head, "Even without our armour, we're still the Kyoshi Warriors, no uniform can take that away from us." she assured them, the warriors smiling at her showing of confidence; she stood up, looking at her loyal sisters-in-arms, "Now come on girls, we have to talk to this 'quartermaster' to get ready to do our jobs." she reminded them, before glancing down at Zuko, "You too, Zuko. You're not just going to sit around with your uncle making tea all day, are you?" she asked him, the Prince shaking his head.

"Sorry, Uncle. She's right." he conceded, Iroh shaking his head in dismissal.

"Don't worry, nephew. You can always come around to enjoy the art of tea-making when you want. I'm sure these refugees will appreciate it as much as you all do."

Zuko nodded before joining the warriors, Suki walking up beside him and whispering to him with a confident smirk, "I'm always right." she proclaimed, making him snicker.

"No one is ever always right." he conceded, "You're not the kind of person to really think you're always right." he judged her character, the warrior nodding with consideration.

"Yeah, that's true. I'm not Amari." she conceded, the two of them laughing, Amari glancing back at her with a slight frown upon hearing her name be mentioned, unsure if the other warrior had heard what she said.

The group walked up to the end of the long stone wall that divided the waiting area from the port itself, approaching a small barracks that resembled other more 'fancy' Earth Kingdom buildings she had seen in her time; she walked ahead of the group and knocked on the door. A few moments later a middle aged man, wearing the outfit of an Earth Kingdom officer, peered out of the door, glancing up and down her figure.

"Uh, who are you?" he asked her with slight confusion.

"Suki. I'm the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors." she clarified, the soldier nodding with some comprehension.

"Kyoshi Warriors, eh? Like Avatar Kyoshi' Kyoshi Warriors?" he asked, the head warrior nodding at his recognition.

"Exactly. We're here to work- protect Full Moon Bay and the refugees. The ticket lady said we should go to you, the quartermaster." she clarified, the man nodding in haering his title.

"Yeah that's me. Uniforms? How many of you?" he asked, the warrior glancing back at her fellow warriors and Zuko.

"Six including me."

"Well then, I'll have each of you fitted with these uniforms." he pulled out a khaki green tunic, the head warrior smiling back at him.

"Thanks. We're looking forward to working here." she made an exaggerated proclamation, knowing that she wanted to get on the side of the people who would be ordering her and the warriors around; he moved out of her way, indicating for them all to enter the building.

Walking in she scanned around, noting the changing stalls, weapon racks, and tables for resting staff that sat in the building; the quartermaster lead her and the others down toward the changing stalls, pulling out a rope with lines on in.

"Okay, I'm going to have to measure you all up to get the right sized uniforms." he told them, Suki stepping forward to be measured first.

The quartermaster used his rope to measure the length, width and girth of her torso, the length of her legs and the size of her feet; he looked up and nodded, "I'll get something that fits." he told her, the warrior nodding at him before he walked over to a wardrobe full of uniforms of varying sizes; he pulled out two tunics, a smaller two piece white one and a larger khaki green tunic that covered the torso and upper arms.

"Put these on." he indicated to her, the other warriors looking intently at the uniform that she would be wearing; he then turned around to give her a helmet and pair of boots, "And these."

She took the uniform and walked into the small change rooms, closing the fabric covering so she could put it on; taking off her headpiece and her armour pieces, she placed them down on the stool beside her. Suki begun to undress herself of her traditional warrior's dress, stripping herself down to her undergarments; taking her boots from her feet, she exchanged them for the new leather boots that she had been given. Grabbing the white under-tunic, she lifted it over her torso before tightening it around her waist. Grabbing the leggings, she drew them up to her waist, before she took the outer-tunic and slid it over her head; she then took the final piece, the helmet, fastening it over her hair where her headpiece formerly sat.

Stepping out of the change-room, she showed her new uniform off to the warriors, who looked on with interest, "How do I look?" she asked them with a smirk.

"Like an Earth Kingdom soldier." the quartermaster simply commented, before Amari indicated to her face.

"Uh- looks like you missed a spot." she noted, the head warrior touching her face, realising that she had forgotten to remove her make-up.

"Ah, well I'll take that off in a bit." she concluded, indicating to her fellow warrior, "Now you go ahead- get your own." she ordered, Amari nodding, standing before the quartermaster to be measured; taking her warrior garbs in her hands, she walked over to Zuko, who looked at her with interest.

"Huh, so we're all going to be wearing that?" he asked her, to which she smirked.

"Yes. How does it feel to join the Earth Kingdom Army?" she asked him, the Prince's eyes widening at the suggestion.

"W-what- this isn't the army, is it?" he asked in a sense of confusion, the warrior playfully punching his shoulder.

"Don't worry. You're not doing anything more treacherous than you've already done." she stressed, making him chuckle at the idea that he might further his fall from grace.

"Ah, well. It's better me in one of these than my uncle. He actually fought in the war, and I'm pretty sure they won't have anything that fits him." he mused, the warrior laughing at the joke.

"That's the spirit." she encouraged, patting his shoulder, "I'm going to go and get rid of my makeup- come meet me outside once you've gotten- uh- suited up." he smiled back at her and nodded in confirmation.

"Y-yeah. I'll try and take the disgust of wearing Earth Kingdom colours to a minimum." he assured her, the two of them laughing; for a short moment, they found amusement in each other's company, before Suki took her leave, already waiting to see the look on his face when he walked out of the barracks wearing the uniform of an Earth Kingdom guard.

* * *

"Please tell me you're here to kill me."

Azula's lips curled into a smile upon hearing the familiar dry tone of her voice; Mai loved to remind her why she was fun to be around- being the antithesis of fun and chirpy Ty Lee was something she appreciated in her friend. She placed a hand on her shoulder, making a little chuckle, which she reciprocated.

"It's great to see you, Mai." she admitted, before Ty Lee raced in and gave her a hug; the awkwardness of her face as the acrobat embraced her said it all- she hadn't changed a bit.

Patting her friend on the back, she raised a brow with curiosity, "I thought you ran off and joined the circus? You said it was your calling."

Ty Lee broke her hug, giving her a smile of confidence, "Well, Azula little louder."

Placing a hand on both of their shoulders, the Princess gave them a smirk of confidence, "I have a mission and I need you both."

Mai looked at her with a sense of relief, "Count me in. Anything to get me out of this place." she turned around glancing at the newly constructed Governor's Palace, before her tone turned rather solemn, "I just hope we can get Tom-Tom back first." she mumbled, Azula raising a brow at the mention of the name.

"Your baby brother?" she asked her, who nodded in confirmation.

"Yes. My father says he was captured by the Earth Kingdom resistance." she grumbled, sounding rather angered by the situation.

"Well then, I am your good friend, Mai. I ought to help you get your brother back, just as you will help me on my mission." she acknowledged, the stoic girl looking back at her with interest.

"What is this mission, anyway?" she asked, the Crown Princess smirking confidently.

"Well, I am officially hunting my traitor uncle- you might remember him, fat and annoying?" she asked, Mai nodding slightly, "But that isn't what we're actually doing." she admitted.

"Then what?" she asked, Ty Lee leaning in close to her with a grin.

"We're going to make Zuko capture the Avatar." she clarified, Mai's eyes widening, breaking her rather serious demeanour.

"We're- we're going to help Zuko capture the Avatar?" Mai asked in clarification, clearly shocked by the reveal.

"You've heard what happened to him, haven't you." the Princess questioned her, who furrowed a brow at her.

"I heard that he was declared a traitor after helping the Avatar. How exactly are you going to get him to capture him?" she asked with a sense of disbelief.

"That's not exactly what happened. Little Zuzu's treachery was a technicality. Admiral Zhao tried to have him killed, and then he tried to capture the Avatar to steal his honour from him. My brother only did what he had to to protect his honour." she explained, Mai raising a brow at him.

"Zhao? Didn't he go missing after the failed invasion of the North Pole?" she asked, the Princess chuckling.

"Oh, that's what they're saying happened?" she asked with a chuckle, the usually stoic girl growing nervous.

"Then what actually happened?" she asked, the Princess raising finger to her chin.

"Let me see: I prevented Zhao from capturing the Avatar... then I let the Avatar's friend kill him." she recollected her memories, Mai looking at her with confusion.

"So you let the Avatar and his friends get away? Isn't that some kind of treason?" she asked, the Princess sighing.

"Technically, yes. But I did it with good reason." she acknowledged, to which the stoic girl glanced back with a face of utter disbelief.

"A good reason to betray your nation?"

"To ensure my brother can return to his rightful place." she simply told her, who looked on with confusion.

"You're actually trying to help him?" she asked Azula, who simply smiled.

"He is my brother, and he needs my help- who else is going to help him? My father doesn't care for his fate, and my uncle is a traitor all the same." she offered her argument, Mai nodding, which she took as a sign to continue explaining her plan, "Zuko needs to capture the Avatar, but I have no idea where my brother is, and even with that, I need some competent allies to assist in capturing the master of the elements."

She nodded in consideration of of the Princess's plan, "Well then; it sounds like you've been up to a lot." she admitted, Azula making a smug grin in response.

"I certainly have; it takes quite the effort to be a good sister and the perfect heir at the same time." she acknowledged, "Now, Mai. You said your brother was kidnapped by resistance fighters?" she asked in clarification, the stoic girl nodding in confirmation.

"Yes. It only happened last night." she explained, the Princess smirking confidently.

"Well then, I best ask your father exactly how he let that happen." she suggested, a little smirk curling on Mai's lips.

"Yes, you should." she gave her a little blessing, Azula knowing that her friend didn't hold her father to much esteem.

She walked up toward the doors of the Governor's Palace, the guards immediately opening the doors for her; she approached the throne that sat at the end of the hall, something she assumed was to be used by Mai's father. The Princess however, had no care for the Governor's dignity; he had little authority in comparison to her. Sitting herself down on the throne, she found herself flanked by her guards, who stood less as an actual force to defend her, but rather as a symbol of intimidating power; she glanced over to the rather stoic girl, who despite being the daughter of the city's current ruler, looked as if she hated everything about her new home.

"Mai, could you get your mother and father? I'd like to ask them about your brother's kidnapping." she asked of her friend, who simply whistled to one of the servants in the room, who seemed to get the message easily enough, racing down a hallway away from them.

"So then, what is your actual plan, if you don't mind me asking?" Mai stepped closer, the Princess scratching her chin in thought.

"It is currently in construction; until I figure out where little Zuzu is, I can't exactly do much. Once the Avatar is located, we can keep him busy, try and stifle his efforts to stop the Fire Nation; most importantly, we need time." she explained her thoughts on the matter quite openly.

"Time?"

She chuckled under her breath, "Our greatest asset and tool. The longer we draw out a chase of the Avatar, the better a chance we have of finding out my brother's location." she explained, the stoic girl raising a brow with interest.

"So you want us to fumble around the Earth Kingdom acting like we're trying to capture the Avatar?" she asked with a tone of disbelief, probably believing such a scheme to be below Azula; in any other circumstance she would be acting hunting down the Avatar, as to ensure the security of her nation and attain the glory that would come with his capture.

"When you say it like that, it doesn't sound like the ingenious plan I formulated in my mind." she simply commented in a neutral, almost casual tone, although Mai understood that she was voicing her offense well enough; no one wanted to offend the one person who could bend blue flames and most certainly didn't commit treason because she felt like it.

"Trust me, by the end of this, we will return to the Fire Nation heroes."


	23. Nuisances

_At first he couldn't see anything, but the fact he couldn't see wasn't reflective of his ability to feel pain, which he could feel emanating from the left side of his face. Prince Zuko could barely recollect what led him to have a retching pain across his face, but his gut dropped as his mind focused; his father had burnt him when he had refused to fight him in an Agni Kai. He had been a coward in front of his father, and in doing so, and felt his father's wrath; he could remember himself screaming, and the smell of burning flesh, but not much more than that. Pulling the bandage that seemed to cross over his eyes off, he glanced about, the blinding bright light fading to reveal his surroundings; he was lying in the palace infirmary, and beside him in a chair sat his uncle, who looked utterly shocked._

_"Prince Zuko, you're awake." he acknowledged, the Prince raising a hand to touch where he felt the pain on his face, finding it covered with a thicker piece of fabric._

_"M-my eye." he mumbled under his breath; Iroh stepped over to look him in his face._

_"Nephew, do you remember what happened?" he asked him, the Prince's uncovered eye widening with horror in thinking back to what he could still vividly see, repeating over and over in his mind._

_"Y-yes. Sadly, I remember it all." he nodded, the retired general looking at him solemnly._

_"After your father delivered that burn to your face, you passed out." he told him, "Then your father proclaimed your fate to the whole chamber. Y-you're not going to like it, nephew." he admitted with a tense tone, Zuko grabbing his shoulder with his left hand._

_"U-Uncle, what's going- what's happening?" he begun to tremble, fearing that he may have just signed his own death sentence by refusing to fight._

_"There's no easy way to say this: you've been banished from the Fire Nation." he simply told him, the Prince reeling back in shock._

_"Wh-what... no! It can't be! I'm the Crown Prince!" he exclaimed, his uncle shaking his head with a grimace._

_"Not anymore, nephew. Your title has been stripped from you." he furthered, Zuko raising his hand to cover his face as he begun to shed tears from his eyes; he didn't want his uncle to see them, but they were definitely there._

_"N-no!" he refused to accept it, covering his face with both his hands, leaning over, curling his head into his legs, "This can't be happening."_

_His uncle grabbed him, pulling him in to hug, probably unsure how else to calm him; it didn't help the Prince much as he broke down sobbing, unsure how to act- what else could he do anyway in the face of being banished?_

_After a few moments he turned around, moving himself away from his uncle, "U-Uncle... how- what do I have to do now?" he asked, the retired general sighing with an almost fearful glance toward him._

_"Your father has declared you may only return if and when you have captured the Avatar." he explained, Zuko's eyes widening with fear._

_"Wh-what? The Avatar hasn't been seen in century? How am I meant to find him?" he asked with horror, Iroh unable to say much but look at him with a grimace._

_"I don't know, nephew. If the Avatar still exists, he must be somewhere." he conceded, the Prince narrowing a glare at his uncle._

_"So that's it then? I have to find someone who hasn't been seen in a hundred years?" he asked, the retired general nodding in confirmation; after a few moments he turned away and pointed out the door._

_"Leave me alone." he simply directed his uncle, first in a tense tone, before he became more angry, "Leave now!"_

_"Y-yes. I'll be waiting outside for you, nephew." he told him, the Prince sighing before nodding, Iroh leaving the room to leave him by himself, to fester in his own wild thoughts._

_Zuko had no idea what was going to happen; he guessed well enough that he would be given some way to search the world and not just be sent on a boat to the colonies. He wasn't some common peasant, he was a prince, and even his clearly infuriated father would see that; he gave him enough mercy to give him an opportunity to prove himself, something Zuko knew he would have to fulfil. What could he do otherwise? He for one, was not willing to wait around while the world went on without him; he wanted to do his duty, just as he thought he was doing when he stood in the name of protecting the 41st division. He knew it was wrong to speak out, he understood that immediately as soon as he saw his father's silhouette before him, but he knew that what he did wasn't something that he could come to call wrong; Bujing was wrong, and he hoped he rotted in some kind of hell for his actions. He didn't know how kind the spirits were, or how concerned they were for the lives of mortals; he just hoped hoped that the callous general was being judged by some higher powers, those who would make sure he got what he deserved._

_"Why did I say that?" he asked himself, becoming angry with his own incompetence; how could he let his anger and pride take him down the path that lead to the horrible outcome of being banished from his own country?_

_A part of him was angry, and not at himself; he was angry, infuriated at his father, for being such a horrible Fire Lord, and that part of him told him that Azula was right- his father had no care for him, he wanted him gone. That he was better off leaving and turning against his father, and the Fire Nation at that. He refused to accept it, he grabbed the sides of his head and shouted out in anger._

_"No! Shut up!" he demanded, "I will find the Avatar, and you will shut up for good!" he exclaimed, his uncle peering into the room._

_"Prince Zuko? What's wrong, who are you shouting at?" he asked, the Prince shaking his head, refusing to acknowledge the thoughts he was feeling._

_"No one. I need to- I need to get out of here." he told his uncle, who looked at him with a face of shock._

_"N-nephew, you're still very injured, I'm un-" Iroh begun to warn him, Zuko cutting him off with a hand, his icy glare determined as it had ever been._

_"No. I will find the Avatar, and I will redeem my honour. I will not let this be the end of me." he declared, his uncle looking at him with near horror._

_"Nephew, you- you're in shock, you need to calm down." he pleaded, the Prince shaking his head as he lifted himself from the bed._

_"No. You need to listen: I am Prince Zuko, and I will not let anyone stop me from doing what I need to do." he declared, "Not even you, Uncle." he admitted with a sense of sadness, not wanting to conflict with his caring uncle, but knowing that he needed to act- it was the only thing he could do._

_"I will not stop you," Iroh conceded, before giving him a rather serious look, something that was rare to see on the retired general's face, "I am coming with you; you will not be alone in your journey. Where you go, I go."_

_"Fine- then direct me on how exactly we are going to find the Avatar." he asked, his uncle sighing._

_"We ought to travel to the Air Temples, but nephew, you need to rest, you can't go running around with such grievous injuries." he asked of Zuko, who simply gritted his teeth, refusing to believe that he wasn't capable of achieving the quest before him._

_"I can still see, can't I?"_

* * *

Looking up before her, Azula saw the crane lowering King Bumi in his formidable metal cage; she felt suspicious as the to the fact there was a hostage trade going for the captive former monarch of Omashu, now renamed New Ozai by the Princess. She smirked at the sight of her father's under construction statue; it had to be the biggest effigy of her father in the Fire Nation yet. Trading Tom-Tom for the former king seemed unreasonable in her eyes, and as soon as she laid eyes upon those who were conducting the trade with them, she sighed in realising she already knew who they were. The Avatar was making her job far easier than it should have been; she placed a face over her face, unable to accept what she saw before her.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" she mumbled under breath, her angry tone catching the attention of her friends.

"What is it, Zula?" Ty Lee turned to ask her, confused as to why she just got so angry.

"Your father is moron, Mai." she grumbled, the stoic girl glancing back at her with confusion; the Princess pointed toward the Avatar and his friends, "That's the Avatar. Remember what I just told you?"

"Oh." she simply mumbled in response, her eyes widened, "That complicates the situation."

"Indeed it does." she acknowledged, before stepping in front of her, "Let me handle this."

She stood in front of Mai, and after a few moments the Avatar's eyes widened in realising that she was standing before him, "W-wait, what are you doing here?!" he exclaimed fearfully, the Princess taking a firebending form.

"I should be asking you the same thing, Avatar. The Fire Nation kindly requests you leave New Ozai." she directed him, the Avatar rolling his eyes before laughing at her mockingly.

"Pfft- New Ozai?! Hahahaha! He named it after himself?!" he broke down into laughing, the Princess scowling at him.

"No, I named it after my father, and you best watch your tongue." she gritted her teeth, sending a bellowing beam of blue flames in his direction; he jumped right out of the way, but he looked afraid as he saw her attack set the scaffolding on fire.

"Hey! We can talk! Hostage trade?!" he shouted out as he used his glider to fly around her fire blasts; she tensed her face in frustration, knowing that now she would actually have to fight the Avatar to send him and his friends running- her plan was going to be more tedious than she first expected.

"The trade is off!" she declared, turning to glance at her friends momentarily, "Let's beat up the Avatar..." she smirked at them before whispering, "But not too much." she stressed, Mai and Ty Lee awkwardly nodding before taking forms racing up toward the scaffolding where the Avatar's friends stood holding Tom-Tom.

As the former King of Omashu was reeled back up by the crane, the Avatar begun to try and attack the chain, obviously attempting to break him free; she couldn't capture him, but she was certainly going to make sure he didn't free any high-level prisoners. The Princess used her firebending to thrust herself upward, flying up into the scaffolding, following the Avatar as he made his way upward; sending a powerful fire blast at the Avatar, she sent the metal cage flinging about from the recoil, the airbender forced to move away as he was unable to target the chain.

"You best give up while you have the chance!" she gritted her teeth, landing on the scaffolding and sending a flame powered kick at the Avatar, narrowly missing his glider.

She saw him fly down and around, the Princess turning her glance to behind her on the scaffolding, where she saw the Avatar's two Water Tribe friends, the boy which she knew was called Sokka, and the girl she had no name for; she resigned to calling her waterbending-peasant as she revealed her ability to try and ward off Ty Lee and Mai. The Water Tribe boy, who was holding Tom-Tom, caught glances with her, tensing back as he realised he was surrounded.

"I would advise that you give my friend her brother back, Sokka." she warned him rather casually, the fact she knew his name making him scamper in fear.

"Argh! Katara- give them back the baby- I don't want to get burnt to a crisp!" he demanded of his sister, who glared at him with contempt, before using her waterbending to deflect Mai's throwing knives.

She rolled her eyes, realising that she had to take matters into her own hands, jumping down to kick the Water Tribe boy right in the head, making him spit out a bit of blood as she landed between him and his sister, who jumped back in fear as Azula filled her hands with blue flames; turning back to face Sokka, she gave him a simple hand-gesture as she sat back holding Tom-Tom fearfully. It was enough of a warning, the boy graciously handing her the baby, to which she gave him a curt nod before using her bending to fly up into the air, the little boy squealing- whether it was in happiness or fear, she couldn't tell. Landing in front of Katara she forced her back with a quick fire blast, before turning to hand Mai her brother.

"There you go." she gave her a smirk of confidence, the stoic girl rather shocked by her methods; she glanced behind the Princess with a face of confusion.

"Uh- which one them killed Zhao?" she asked, reminding Azula of what she said earlier; her lips curled as she eyed the Water Tribe boy with a response in mind.

"Funnily enough, the incompetent one." she snickered, a shout of anger being heard behind her.

"Hey!" he shouted out with a boisterous voice, "I'm not incompetent!"

"Is that so?" she snickered, sending a firebending kick at the Water Tribe boy and his sister, before she used her bending to propel her up into the air again, noting the Avatar was still chipping away at the chain that held up Bumi's cage.

Now higher up on the statue of her father, she used a quick fire blast to hit the Avatar off of the cage, the boy screaming loudly before he opened his glider, flying back around; she scowled with annoyance and begun to send fire blasts at him, the volleys missing the agile flying glider.

A few moments later he flew upwards with his glider, a scowl of annoyance on his face, "Take this!" he shouted, retracting his glider mid-air before using it to send a wave of air at her, flinging her off of the statue.

Using her bending to break her fall, Azula cringed as her knees buckled as she fell onto the scaffolding, gritting her teeth as she regained her posture back down on the scaffolding; glancing back up she noted the Avatar finally swinging his staff through the frozen chain, the coffin-like cage going to free-fall, falling down toward the city's chute system. The Princess rolled her eyes, using her bending to propel herself downward, and made chase of the Avatar who tactfully used the chute system to his advantage; she copied his tactic, jumping into a mail cart and pushing it along with a quick fire blast. As she approached from behind on her cart, she begun to send out volleys of flames, the Avatar quickly taking note of her attacks, using his staff to deflect the flames; she scowled but her mood was improved upon realising their chutes were merging, allowing her to get even closer. He then sent a gust of wind at her, which she literally cut through with her bending, throwing a number of fire blasts right back at him; the airbender duck under her attacks before he begun to speed the coffin up by using his staff. She was nearly upon him, but the Avatar used his airbending to cut some wooden arches up, forcing her to duck under the dust cloud; after a few moments she pounced back up, surprising the Avatar with a beam of fire- as expected, he dodged. The Princess smirked, realising that his constant dodging ultimately worked in her favour, but she knew that she needed to secure the coffin before he and his friends tried to escape the city.

"You're not getting away, Avatar!" she shouted out confidently, throwing another fire blast at him, which he narrowly dodged; his agility was incomparable, but he was going to make a mistake sooner or later.

She realised that the Avatar's friends were flying on his beast to the side of them; Azula immediately realised that they were about to escape, and from the looks of it, with King Bumi. She powered multiple beams through her hands, directing them at the airbender, who was able to skilfully disperse it with his staff, which she hoped would eventually catch fire; it didn't, and in her frustration, she threw another fireball at him. The Avatar jumped out of the way before grinning at his friends.

"Hang on, Bumi! Our ride's here!" he exclaimed, the Princess scowling, before she threw another fire blast, this time at the Avatar's sky-bison, which flew out of the way of her attack.

The beast returned, and then the airbender made the coffin fly out of the chute, flinging him not just to the saddle, but over the top of it, the coffin falling down onto another chute, breaking through it, before it landed and begun sliding down another. She begun to speed up her cart, directing it down onto the other chute that the Avatar was riding on with a little help from her bending; the landing she took was rather violent and she was afraid that the cart would shatter on impact. Luckily for her, it didn't and she continued to ride on downward, keeping on the trail of her targets. She bent a disk of flames within her hands, before propelling it out in front of her, heading straight toward the Avatar; she reeled in shock as she saw the path in front of her break with a pillar of earth appearing- the King could earthbend, and she had no where to go but other than into a pillar. Azula jumped up over the pillar as her cart was blown to pieces on impact, sliding on down the chute on her feet; she had to stop, realising that it would be more effort than it was worth to continue chasing the Avatar on foot. Watching his friends fly by on the sky-bison, she sighed with frustration.

"They better not leave with the fucking King. I've had enough of this damn Avatar shit to deal with already."

* * *

Prince Zuko felt that he was as far from his title as he had ever been, walking around in the dusty landscape of the Earth Kingdom, wearing the garbs of an Earth Kingdom guard, protecting the Earth Kingdom from his own people; he didn't expect himself to end up in the position he did when he knew he was going to leave Kyoshi Island, and if he were to be completely honest with himself, he was unsure if he liked it. It was as if his identity was being chipped away at, one piece at a time; he cursed under his breath as he thought as to what his mother might think of him. She would probably tell him that she was proud of him, but he knew that she wanted better for him; he had little but the clothes on his back and a pair of dao swords, nothing to his name but a bounty handed down by his own father. But her voice reminded him that he wasn't alone.

"Zuko? Are you okay?" Suki asked him, the Prince shaking his head, trying to give her an assuring smile.

"I'm fine." he told her, "I'm just a little bored, that's all." he deflected away from the truth.

"Well boring is good in the end; the Fire Nation isn't trying to take Full Moon Bay, not yet." she noted, the Prince giving a her a smile of hope; at very least the refugees would be safe, and they wouldn't needlessly suffer at the hands of his compatriots.

"Yeah, that's right. And we're going to make sure they don't." Amari pumped up her chest, Zuko glancing at her with a face of disbelief.

"How could we stop a proper Fire Nation attack?" he asked her, the warrior shrugging, swinging her retracted fan around in her fingers.

"We can think of something. Maybe set a trap? We're good at traps." she smirked confidently, the head warrior nodding with agreement.

"We are good at traps. We caught the Avatar for spirits sake." she noted, Zuko wincing in thought of his missed opportunity; Suki noted his reaction, placing a hand on his shoulder sympathetically, "Too soon?"

"No, I'm fine." he told her, glancing around the rough and eroded terrain that surrounded Full Moon Bay, "Maybe we should find a vantage point, that'll save us time." he asked, Suki nodding in acknowledgement, before giving him a rather suspicious look.

"Hey, don't tell me you already are craving your uncle's tea again?" she asked him, knowing that he had grown into a routine of having tea at an absurdly regular basis.

"It's really good, I can't help but want some more when I keep getting dust in my mouth." he grumbled, Amari placing a hand on Zuko's shoulder in assurance.

"Yeah, I'm with Zuko. Tea sounds better than scouting; why did the others get customs duty and we got the damn walk-about." she grumbled, the head warrior shrugging her shoulders.

"That's just how it is; that grumpy customs lady doesn't give up. Let's just get up to some vantage point like Zuko said, then go back to base." she explained her plan, both of them nodding at her idea.

"Yep, sounds good to me." he simply accepted, before beginning to walk toward a rather round rocky precipice that sat in the distance, towering above the crags and gullies, "How about that?" he pointed out, Suki giving him a smile.

"That works. Let's go." she agreed, quickly beginning to follow the Prince, the other Kyoshi Warrior obliging after sighing, indicating that she would rather just walk back to the customs station and lie about patrolling.

The trio increased their pace as they made their way along through the winding gullies toward the precipice, their track covered in footsteps, indicating that refugees had taken their path some time recently; taking a path up along a rocky cliff face, they slowed down as a ravine became apparent beside them. Amari's pace became rather jittery and the Prince raised a brow in confusion at her rather fearful attitude.

"What? Are you afraid of heights or something?" he asked her, the warrior profusely shaking her head.

"Of course not, I'm a Kyoshi Warrior, we don't fear anything." she assured him; after having to listen to Azula's bullshit all his life, he was pretty confident he knew a lie when he saw one.

"Totally." he smugly told her, Suki snickering at his rather sarcastic reaction; Amari didn't appreciate it however, scowling at him as she held one of her hands tightly as she could onto the rock face to their left.

"Shut up." she grumbled, remaining rather silent after that point as they circled along the narrow ravine, leading them up to the rocky precipice they could see from afar; their only problem was that the only way up it was up an extreme incline that was littered with cracks and loose rocks.

The Prince had some struggle climbing up a sheer rock face, like any person would, but was utterly amazed when he saw Suki scale it within a few seconds, standing up atop it triumphantly; he didn't even ask how she did it, just dropping his jaw in awe, something that she seemed to appreciate.

"It's not that impressive." he heard the other Kyoshi Warrior scoff, showing some decent skill as she herself begun to climb up.

The two of them eventually reached a point where the incline flattened out, and were able to join Suki standing on top of the precipice, looking out across the surrounding wilderness; the region was mostly desolate, surrounded to the north by the West and East Lakes, which could be seen in the distance, as well as the intimidating Serpent's Path, a supposedly dangerous alternative to the ordinary ferries into Ba Sing Se.

"Well there is no Fire Nation out here, so I think it's best we go back now, and preferably through another path if you wouldn't mind?" Amari requested, the head warrior chuckling at her rather sour mood- something told him that she was well aware of the warrior's apparent fear of heights.

"Of course, your highness." she mocked her subordinate, simultaneously making the Prince roll his eyes- he was the only royalty around, but he was in no position be referred to with such respect, "But I have a better idea than going back to Full Moon Bay." she suggested, Zuko furrowing a brow in interest.

"What- not going back at all?" he mused, the warrior shaking her head with a chuckle.

"No. See that lake over there?" she pointed out to a small body of water that seemed to form a stop in a stream just across from them, "Perhaps we should go for a swim?" she asked, the Prince's face flushing red in thought, glancing to Amari, who looked at him with enough suspicion as suspected.

"Hey, is this what I think it is, boss?" she asked her superior with a little smile, as if she wanted to find enjoyment out of making him squirm.

"What is it Amari? Is there something you'd like to say?" Suki stood tall over her, the mere tone of her voice scaring the other warrior enough that she refused to ask her question more directly.

"N-nothing... swimming is fine, as long as your boyfriend doesn't ogle me." she glared at the Prince, who looked at her with confusion, unsure why she thought he would in the first place.

"I'm not going to, trust me. I really don't want to give you another reason to murder me in my sleep." he simply conceded, the warrior smirking at him.

"Who says I won't?" she stared him down, Suki snapping her fingers at her to break her rather stupendous joke.

"Stop it, let's go. We've got to get down there." she pointed down toward the lake, the Prince noting the rather steep path they'd have to take- it wasn't as bad as the last one they climbed, but it still seemed pretty dangerous.

The head warrior took the lead, obviously the most skilled climber of the group, turning around and pulling herself down a ledge, leading her along a narrow ledge that led down toward the relatively flat ground; Zuko tensed up as he made his way along- he had decent enough balance, but he wasn't used to climbing around cliffs like the ones they were dealing with at the moment. At that moment he came to appreciate the Earth Kingdom's idea of putting their secret ferry port where they did; if the area around it was so inaccessible to an attacking force, then it made sense the Fire Nation had never come to destroy it. Edging along down along the ledge the trio approached the ground, Amari audibly sighing behind him, making the Prince snicker; not that he wanted her to be afraid, but he appreciated the idea that she wasn't as much of a crazy, tough warrior as he made herself out to be. The Prince stepped down from the ledge once it became small enough, following Suki along down toward the edge of the small stream, which as she described, filled out into a small clear lake, perfect for swimming in. Kneeling down by the waters edge, he felt the temperature of the water and acknowledged that it was actually quite fine; he realised that he could heat the water around him with his bending if need be, but he'd prefer not to expend his energy when he would be trying to relax.

"It feels... nice." he noted, the head warrior giving him a smirk of confidence as she took off her helmet, untying her hair to let it fall freely down to her shoulders.

"Well then, let's get in." she directed, taking off her over-tunic, the Prince sitting back from the water's edge to draw off his outer layers as well.

He quickly took his helmet and over-tunic off, taking his boots and gloves off as well, before glancing around to see Suki was nearly completely naked before him, the Prince coughing to cover his mouth as he looked down; she was wearing her full undergarments that were quite modest, at least by Fire Nation standards, but even then it was only a bit of thin cotton, not much more.

"U-uh, are you okay, Zuko?" she asked him, as if she already knew that was going through his mind, the Prince nodding in assurance.

"Yep." he forced a smile, before he turned around, trying to focus on getting undressed.

He took his leggings and and under-tunic off, leaving him only wearing his simple underwear, only covering his upper legs and waist; he felt a little exposed with no clothes on, and he noted the other warrior giving him an odd look. Knowing that he would definitely feel less exposed there, he quickly slid himself into the water up to his chest, where Suki was already sitting calmly; she eyed him momentarily before looking away- she wasn't usually averse to looking at him, but with Amari about and Zuko shirtless, it seemed a little less reasonable for her to give him 'that look'.

The final member of the trio climbed into the water in between them, sitting down in the water where it was only about knee high, "Ah, this is actually pretty good." she acknowledged, before looking to her superior with interest, "So, now what?"

"We just sit here." her superior simply told her, to which she responded with a smirk.

"Oh, you can do that." she told her with a rather devious tone, pushing herself into the deeper water.

Zuko's eyes narrowed at her, knowing that she had to be up to something; he found out exactly what it was a moment later when she kicked her leg up and sent a splash of water right at Suki. She quickly turned to splash him, but the Prince was prepared enough, pulling out his hands to turn the water to steam as it flew at him.

He gritted his teeth at her and scowled, "Did you really have to do that?"

"Amari!" he heard the other warrior call out, standing up by the water's edge, before she kicked the water at her feet toward Amari, who cringed back as she tried to block the water from hitting her face.

"Hey! I'll get you back for that!" the instigating warrior declared, before she thrust out her arm, as if she was using a fan, spraying water all over her; the Prince sighed, knowing that he needed to intervene.

He felt no regret as he sent a firebending powered punch through the water's surface, which ended up spraying water all over her, catching her by surprise; the Kyoshi Warrior gritted her teeth, before she dived under the water, Suki glancing at him with a little grimace.

"What is she doing?" he asked her, the warrior narrowing a glance.

"Trying to get us to go after her." she concluded, before she took form, diving straight into the water, under which he could see the distorted silhouette of the other girl.

He sighed, rolling his eyes as he tried to watch from above the water's surface; after a few moments he saw them swim around each other, but the two silhouettes became even harder to see as the ripples obscured their shapes under the water. He pulled himself up to the water's edge to try and get a better angle, before suddenly water sprayed out right in front out him, going all over his face; the Prince relented to scream, but he gasped as he fell onto his back, lying on the shallow edge of the water as Amari looked at him with a smirk on her face.

"Ahaha- you should see the look on your face!" she mocked, Zuko unable to formulate a response as she herself was sprayed from behind, Suki appearing with a gleeful smile on her face.

"What's wrong, Amari?" she asked in an innocent sounding voice, the other warrior grumbling before breaking down laughing.

"Oh- ahahaha! There's nothing wrong with having some fun." she acknowledged, the Prince shaking his head with disappointment.

"Getting water sprayed in my eyes isn't fun." he argued, the warrior snickering at him.

"No need to get all sour, your highness." she mocked him, who hammered his fist down into the water in front of him, splashing her and making her squeal quite loudly, Suki snickering at her reaction.

"Your majesty." she smiled at her subordinate in a mocking tone, the warrior side-eying her before swimming over to the shoreline, obviously having had enough of water being thrown at her.

Zuko chuckled at the sight of Amari's defeat, but soon quieted down as Suki approached him in the water, sitting beside him with a rather sympathetic smile, "Sorry for her behaviour. She's like this most times we're at the beach." she explained to him, who raised a brow with interest.

"Even with the Unagi around?" he asked, the warrior shrugging her shoulders.

"It's usually distracted by the elephant koi, so we don't worry about it too much." she acknowledged, the Prince nodding along, somewhat confused by the contradictory message he was getting about the legendary sea monster.

"Hmph- yeah, my family used to go to the beach a lot at Ember Island when I was little. But I haven't been in years." he noted, remembering fondly his times there, other than going to see the Ember Island Players, who ought to be the worst troupe in the whole Fire Nation.

"Huh- it must be a lot hotter there than Kyoshi Island." she noted, "I'd like to go to some place like that one day. A good beach with no threat of getting eaten alive." she mused, making him chuckle.

"Yeah, I'd like that too." he agreed, before sinking himself into the water, "This is a nice spot." he admitted, the Kyoshi Warrior chuckling.

"Yeah it is, but I think we'd enjoy ourselves a little better without a certain someone." she suggested, the Prince snickering, before glancing at Amari, who was fumbling about in the water nearby, obviously not paying attention to their conversation.

"Ah well, nothings ever perfect." he noted, the warrior grasping a hold of his chin, turning his head to face her own; her curled lips gave him the idea of what she might do next.

"Oh, that's where you're wrong." she told him, before kissing him on the lips; their touch was brief, but he smiled brightly, enjoying the moment.

"Th-thanks." he mumbled in response, unsure what to say; that was enough for her, it seemed, Suki smiling at him just as he had.

"No worry. I'll enjoy this moment of-" she begun before they were interrupted by an unexpected splash hitting the sides of their faces.

Both of them turned to face Amari, who looked at them with a devious grin, "What's wrong, lovebirds?" making the head warrior clench her fist.

"Oh, you'll pay for that." she declared, pulling herself up to stand by the shallow water's edge, Zuko's eyes widening as he realised what she was about to do.

She jumped down on her target, shouting out a cry as he landed on top of the other Kyoshi Warrior, throwing her under the water's surface, the splash from her landing going all around, especially on the Prince; he sighed with frustration, knowing that he ought to help Suki. The entire sight before him was stupendous, watching the two girl's brawl in the water, cries of anger abound; he simply sighed and placed a hand over his face, knowing that he was most certainly going to have to jump in to stop them before hurting each other.

"This isn't what I expected when she said we should go for a swim."


	24. The Rescue

_"Prince Zuko, look here!"_

_He glanced at his uncle, and then to where he was pointing; it was a stall filled with various Air Nomad relics- as much as he wanted to continue the long work on his quest, he knew that a goods peddler wouldn't give him much information on the people whose relics he stole._

_"I don't care for some peddler's wares, Uncle." he gritted his teeth, pointing at the stall, "Where do you think someone like that got all that?" he asked, his uncle's face turning to a grimace._

_"Um- from Air Nomad sites." he acknowledged the obvious, Zuko stepping closer to stress his point._

_"Off the corpses of dead airbenders." he simply told him, his uncle gulping before nodding, understanding well enough that despite the fact the Air Nomads were the enemy of the Fire Nation, desecrating them any was an insult- he wasn't an Air Nomad, but he believed well enough in honour._

_"Yes, I see. That would be quite a bad person to buy from." he acknowledged, the retired general furrowing a brow, "Perhaps we should go buy something else."_

_"We're not buying any more useless crap, Uncle." he gritted his teeth, Iroh sighing._

_"Hmph- perhaps we should get food instead- you'd like that more than a new instrument, wouldn't you?" he asked the Prince, who scrunched his fingers on his nose bridge._

_"I am still not joining your damn music night." he stressed, before taking a breath momentarily to calm himself, "But yes, food sounds far better than needless things like that."_

_Walking along through the market with his uncle, Zuko glanced around, rather randomly, just trying to see if there was anything interesting; there usually never was, the Prince finding little interest in the material. He could, however, like Iroh was telling him, find pleasure in a good meal; everyone needed to eat, so it was best he eat the finest meals he could get his hands on. He caught sight of something in the corner of his eye, turning around to note a stall that was selling various trinkets that he'd expect at a seasonal festival in the homeland; not that he had been to many of those, but he had seen a few on Ember Island during his childhood. He approached the stall, leaving his uncle's side for a moment, the stall vendor looking at him with intrigue, obviously noting his importance from his Fire Nation armour._

_"Did you want to buy something, sir?"_

_Prince Zuko furrowed his brow, ignoring the vendor's question, looking at the rack of masks that stood before him; a number of them he clearly recognised, being Fire Nation theatre masks, something that was used regularly in traditional plays. Glancing at one of them, he noted the mask of the Dark Water Spirit, the antagonist character of his mother's favourite play, Love Amongst The Dragon; he reminisced to the time when he used to go see plays with her, and it brought a small smile to his face._

_"I'd like to buy this mask." he indicated to the Dark Water Spirit mask, the vendor nodding grabbing the mask from the rack and offering out his hand._

_"That will be a silver piece." he explained, the Prince nodding, picking a coin out of his pocket, glad that he had something on him to pay for it; he didn't want to explain why he was buying a mask from a play to his uncle._

_He handed the coin over and exchanged it for the mask, Zuko giving the vendor a nod before he turned his heels and returned to follow after Iroh, who stood in the distance, confused as to why he had stopped._

_"Prince Zuko, why did you stop?" he asked, to which he shook his head dismissively._

_"No reason, Uncle. Let's go get some lunch, I'm hungry." he deflected, his uncle not asking any more questions, simply smiling; he gave him a curt smile as he held the mask behind him in his hands, walking along beside his uncle as he looked for a stall to find food from._

_Holding the mask in his hands, he felt a brief feeling of warmth in his gut, feeling as if he had found something he had been looking for for a long time; he knew the mask could provide him a little outlet, a way to express his feelings, the ones he didn't really want to express, especially when he wanted to focus on his mission. He wasn't a dark, mischievous spirit- Prince Zuko was the son of Ozai and Ursa, the rightful heir of his nation; part of him knew that he wanted to break the mould, and he sighed in concession, knowing that he needed a break from his constant worrying about his mission._

_Iroh glanced back at him with a face of interest, "Nephew, is something wrong?" he asked, the Prince shaking his head._

_"No, everything is fine, Uncle. Just fine."_

* * *

"I'm sorry sir, but you can't just walk through here. You have to get your papers checked."

Zuko didn't want to give anyone a hard time, but serving guard duty in the customs area meant that the only thing he could really do was give innocent refugees a hard time; the man before him was trying to walk through, and had claimed he had gone toilet before he wanted to go onto the ferry.

"But please, kid. You've gotta understand, my family's getting on the ferry." he pleaded, the Prince sighing, knowing that dealing with little accidents like the one before him certainly wasn't his job.

"Okay, fine then. I can't let you through, but I can go tell your family to wait for the next ferry so they don't leave you here, how about that?" he offered the man, who smiled at him bowing at him awkwardly.

"Th-thank you! Please, find my wife Min. My name is Hua- she's with our two little ones." he told him, the Prince nodding, turning to face Suki, indicating to her with a wave.

She approached quickly and looked at the man with some suspicion, "Is something wrong, Zuko?" she asked, the Prince tensing up upon hearing his name; he realised that he shouldn't be referred to by his actual name when people might catch whiff of the bounty on his head.

"N-no, nothing's wrong. I just need you to make sure Hua here doesn't do anything stupid while I stop his family from leaving on the ferry." he explained himself, to which she nodded, the Prince quickly turning his heels to walk past the gates through into the dock section of the port, looking around to find the ferry that was currently being filled up.

He caught sight of the ferry, which looked like it was nearly full, Zuko racing along the dock to approach it's boarding plank, where two Earth Kingdom guards looked at him with confusion.

"What's wrong? Did customs slip up again?" one of the guards asked, to which the Prince shook his head.

"No, a man went to the toilet and he's about to get left behind by his family. I need to find them on this ferry." he explained, the guards looking at each other.

"Huh- uh- I guess you can go on, but we aren't given free passes to entering Ba Sing Se just because we're guards- don't try anything like that." the other guard stressed.

He nodded, understanding the ramifications of breaking the tight security measures, having to hand them down himself every day, "Yeah, of course. I'm no fool." he swore, the guards nodding before getting out of his way, letting him walk up the plank onto the ferry.

He cleared his throat before looking around, realising he had no idea how he was going to find Hua's family; he turned to random refugee woman and just decided to ask, "Uh- have you seen a woman and her two children?" he asked the refugee, who looked at him with confusion.

"Wh-what? There's a lot of families on this boat." she noted, the Prince sighing with frustration.

"Of course there is." he scrunched his fingers on his nose bridge, before he turned around and begun to walk around the lower deck of the boat, glancing around for a specific grouping- a woman with two young children.

After walking around the deck he realised he wasn't going to be able to find them just by looking for them; he begun to call out the name of Hua's wife, "Min! I'm looking for a woman called Min!" he declared, the refugees giving him an odd look.

There was an awkward silence for a few moments, before a woman's voice called out from behind him, "That's my name. Are you looking for me?" she asked, Zuko turning around to see a rather young woman, who looked similar in age to the man at the port, with two young children by her side.

"Is your husband Hua?" he asked in clarification, the woman nodding, confirming that she was certainly the Min he was looking for, "He's down at customs. They won't let him through even if got verified earlier- you'll have to wait for him on the dock." he explained, the woman looking saddened.

"Ah, another delay after all our travelling. Ba Sing Se is so close." she lamented, the Prince giving her a smile of sympathy.

"I'm sorry, but we don't make up the rules." he told her, before walking past her tilting his head toward the entrance of the ferry, "Follow me, I'll lead you to him." he explained, Min nodding, grasping a hold of her children's hands, pulling them along as they walked over to the plank, where the guards were waiting for Zuko to return.

"So you weren't kidding, huh?" one of guards noted, the Prince not responding to his comment, simply leading the family down the plank onto the dock; he wanted to simply get the job over and done with; it wasn't something he needed to do, but he felt that he was obliged to keep the family together.

Walking back to the stone gates that separated the customs area from the port, he indicated for the family to stop, before glancing over to see Suki standing with Hua, who lit up with happiness upon seeing his family.

"You found them!" he exclaimed, the Prince making a little smile, knowing that he had helped someone else- it was a good change after all the rather boring work he had been doing as a guard.

"You just wait here for Hua, he'll have to go through customs again, but you can catch the next ferry to Ba Sing Se." he assured Min, who nodded, her comprehension enough of an indication for the Prince to walk on back through the gates back over to the others.

The head warrior smiled at him, "Well, that was quick." she noted, making him chuckle, before he turned to the rather relieved refugee.

"Now, you need to go back in line. I'm sorry, but at least now you know your family will be waiting for you." he directed, to which he nodded, turning his heels and giving his family a wave.

"Of course, I'll go now. Thank you- uh- Zuko, was it?" he asked, the Prince tensing up before clearing his throat.

"Uh- yes." he acknowledged, the refugee giving him a curt bow before turning to walk over to the long line of refugees awaiting to get their passports checked; he turned back to Suki, who looked at him with confusion.

"Is something wrong? You got all... weird when he said your name." she asked, Zuko sighing before stepping closer.

"You shouldn't call me by my name around all these people. Someone is eventually going to catch on- the scar is a pretty big give-away already." he stressed, the warrior's face turning serious as she narrowed her eyes.

"I understand. We don't want to have... one of those situations." she vaguely described to him, the words indicating to what had occurred a few weeks prior in that desolate Earth Kingdom village.

"Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking. How about... uh- Lee. That's a common name." he noted, to which she smiled.

"Okay, Lee. I'll make sure the others know to call you that too." she assured him, making him feel slightly more calm, knowing that at the very least there was a marginally smaller chance of him being called out as the banished and fugitive prince of the Fire Nation.

Suddenly a few moments later, he heard a cry in the distance, turning his head to see a guard dressed in the same uniform as they were; upon closer examination, he realised it was Nakata, and her tunic was scorched with a number of burn marks. His gut immediately wretched in worry, he and Suki quickly walking up to the warrior, who was limping toward them.

"Guys! W-we found them- the Fire Nation." she muttered as she neared, the head warrior grabbing her friend, by the shoulder to help her stand.

"The Fire Nation? Where? What happened to the others?" she asked, the warrior's eyes widening with fear, tears falling down her cheeks.

"I- I had to leave them. Amari made me run while she held them off- she told me to get here, to get- you." she turned to face Zuko, "Another tough firebender is the only one who can deal with these guys- there's a few of them, and they're armed to the teeth." she explained, the Prince nodding with no relent.

"I'll do it." he assured her, glancing to Suki, "I'm assuming you will want to save your girls." he asked her, who looked at him with a determined glance.

"It is my duty." she declared, turning back to face Nakata, "You're injured- you should go and get patched up by Iroh. I'm sure he's around." she stressed, the warrior nodding, before Zuko cleared his throat.

"Actually, we'll need to go get our stuff." he told Suki, who raised a brow.

"Like the swords and fans?" she asked, the Prince nodding before smirking.

"The Blue Spirit needs to make a reappearance." he told them, the injured warrior lighting up with a grin.

"Oh yes- they're so screwed now." she clenched a fist with hope, the Prince turning back to face Suki, clasping a hand on her shoulder.

"Let's save our friends."

* * *

Spitting a bit of blood out of her mouth, Amari cringed in pain, knowing that she and the warriors had made a big mistake; they were doing their jobs, but she was wrong to assume that the enemy wouldn't be ready to fight them. She noted to herself that running head first into problems was helpful at times, but she ought to find some restraint, especially when it came to fighting firebenders. The Kyoshi Warrior realised after she got her arse handed to her but Fire Nation soldiers that she had overestimated her abilities; she, Nakata, Sawa and Esumi were all skilled and well trained warriors, but they specifically lacked training to deal with ash-makers themselves. It seemed quite stupid in hindsight to her, thinking that all of their training was to prepare them to face the Fire Nation if they ever invaded, when they had never actually fought firebenders before they showed up on their doorstep. She had her hands tied up behind her, and she and the warriors were all sitting down in a circle, surrounded by Fire Nation soldiers; she was relieved that at least Nakata was able to get away before the enemy soldiers caught her. In the end, everyone got burnt, and Amari herself had decided to rough them up, although it didn't help when her opponent threatened to burn her face off; she gritted her teeth, pulling a smirk, as to try and intimidate her opponents. She was only held by rope anyway; with enough squirming, she was going to free her hands, and grab the closest stone so she could ram it into one of the ash-maker's heads.

"So, what are bunch of teenage girls doing running around in soldier's uniforms?" one of the Fire Nation soldiers asked them, leaning over to try and seem intimidating; she didn't budge, although she felt obliged to reply to his rather disparaging comment.

"We're not just running around. We came to find you bastards." she gritted her teeth, spitting at the soldiers feet; the soldier scowled, pulling his fist back, ready to strike her in the head, before he was stopped.

"Sergeant, stop! We need to elicit information, not beat up a bunch of teenage girls." another soldier berated him, the aggrieved one tensing up in anger, breathing flames out of his nose.

"Whatever." he grumbled, before looking down at Amari and her comrades, "These little girls aren't going to do much anyway. Maybe some other soldiers will come after them- one of them got away, didn't they?" he asked, the other soldier growling.

"Yes, and that was your fault, moron. You were too distracted with trying to beat these girls to a pulp." he derided him, before turning to face the other soldiers, "We've gotten close enough to this supposed Earth Kingdom hideout. They can't be far, but we don't want to reveal ourselves if they've got a big force behind them- we need to be tact." he explained to the soldiers, making himself out as the commanding officer present.

"Of course, sir. Should we go scout out the perimeter?" one of the soldiers asked him, the commander nodding.

"Yes, that would be wise, the rest of you get your lunch. We're going to be on the approach by nightfall." he directed, the soldiers making rather casual salutes before they dispersed, some of them walking around the campsite, while a few begun to walk off out into the rocky terrain that surrounded the camp.

The commanding officer turned around and looked at the still angry soldier and his comrades, "You three, keep an eye on these girls, and leave the interrogating to me- I just need to freshen up on my protocols." he explained to his men before walking away.

Amari glanced around at her comrades with a serious glare; the moment they got the opportunity, they would make their enemies pay- and they were going to pay dearly.

Sawa mumbled under her breath, "Plan?" she asked her, whose eyes narrowed, considering if they could even formulate anything with their enemies breathing down their backs, quite literally.

"Wait. Just wait." she mumbled, the angry soldier noticing her words.

"Hmph- what are you waiting for girl?" he asked her, before chuckling, "Do you think some real soldiers are going to come and save you- some of those rock-throwing morons?" he mocked her, the warrior snickering before she begun to laugh at him.

"Earthbenders?!" she asked him with a tone of disbelief, looking to her friends with a sense of humour, "This guy doesn't get it." she stressed, before she glanced at him, "We're the fucking Kyoshi Warriors... and we have some scary friends."

He leaned forward, filling his hands with flames, scrunching his fingers into his palms as they closed in on her face, "Scary? I'll show you scary." he snickered, the warrior unfazed by his words; the man before her was angry, but he was no Zuko- he wasn't Zuko's sister, or uncle- who were both reputed to be some of the most powerful benders alive.

"No you won't. You're gonna see scary, soon enough." she stressed.

The soldier clenched his fists, glaring at her with rather annoyed scowl, before he simply turned away, obviously having had enough of Amari's unfaltering mockery; his comrades looked at her and the other warriors suspiciously, and then proceeded to leave them alone, at least in the sense that they were not being constantly stared at. Stretching her hands out as far back as she could reach, she grabbed a hold of what felt to be a shard of a tree branch; feeling along it's edge, she noted it was relatively sharp. The Kyoshi Warrior had a rather stupid plan in mind, but if timed well, she could perhaps help her comrades escape. She decided to clear her throat, knowing that she needed to distract them for a while as she tried to get her hands free.

"Hey, morons." she gained the attention of the Fire Nation soldiers, who glared at her with contempt, "I heard you ash-makers like to send prisoners of war to the front lines wearing your uniforms." she told them, "Are you all really that heartless?" she asked them with a smirk, the soldier who was already annoyed at her leaning in closer to look at her close.

"Oh, you probably wish that was true. But it's going to be much worse for you- there's no chance for escape." he told her, as if to assure her all efforts would be in vain.

She simply snickered, taking a moment to think of a witty response; before she could say anything more to mock the soldier, she heard a cry in the distance, and the soldiers turned to glance the other way. Taking the opportunity, she began to grind the twig against her bindings to try and weaken them; the enemy commander raced out of his tent, looking aghast.

"What was that? Men! Somebody get over there!" he shouted at the off-duty soldiers, who had just gotten into their break; a group of them got up and raced in the direction of where the cry came from.

Cutting at her bindings, she glanced to her side, noting that Sawa had noticed her cutting, before she turned her head to see that Esumi had also noticed; she tilted her backward toward the other twigs that sat around where they were being held. Their enemies had bound their hands, but not their feet, confident that they could take them down before they could run away; they were wrong however, and it would be their undoing. As she finally felt her bindings loosened, Amari smirked, whistling to the guards who were meant to stop them from doing anything stupid; the antagonised guard looked back at her after which she spat at him, the little splatter of liquid hitting his face. He came to a halt, wiping the liquid from his face before his face contorted into a scowl, leaning in closer to throw a fist at her.

"You little sh-" he began to shout, only to be cut off by his voice box being impaled by a twig; the soldier begun to sputter, but before he was able to do anything else, she grabbed his head and thrust it into her knee.

"You fuckers picked the wrong girls to capture!" she exclaimed, rolling under a firebending attack made by the other two soldiers.

A few moments later, Esumi and Sawa sprung up, having unbound their hands, and pounced on the two soldiers; given the opportunity, she turned around a placed her foot on the defeated soldier's chest, the man grasping at his throat.

"This is fear." she told him, before she leaned down, and grabbed a dagger from his belt, "Thanks for the knife. I'll kill your friends with it." she gave him a wink, the soldier's eyes widening as she began to pace toward the enemy commander, who had only just realised what was going on.

"You! How did you beat my men?!" he exclaimed in confusion, sending out a fireball to try and knock her down, the agile warrior sidestepping his attack.

She pounced forward with the knife in hand; it would serve as a fine substitute for her golden fans. Her attack missed her opponents arm, the commander using his bending to strike her in the gut, making her wince back in pain; gritting her teeth, she jabbed forward with her knife in hand, her opponent skilfully grabbing her hand to stop her right then and there. His agility was comparable to her own, something that made her eyes widened as he filled his hands with flames, using them to burn her hand, the warrior flinching back, yelping in pain as she dropped the knife.

"You peasants are all the same- no grace." he lamented, taking a bending stance, ready to strike her, with no sense of relent, unlike the aggrieved soldier she had played; before he could send a fireball right at her head, he flinched forward, his eyes losing focus as he fell to the ground- before her stood the Blue Spirit, who was covered in burns and his mask cracked.

"Your majesty, wonderful timing!" she grinned at him, the Prince not saying a word as he turned around to face the other soldiers; pulling herself to her feet, she picked the knife she had been wielding up from the ground, going back to back with her friendly rival, "But, uh- thanks. Wanna kick some arse?" she smirked, Zuko simply muttering under his breath.

"I'm in the mood for it." he assured her.

* * *

As her golden fans glinted in the midday sun, Suki readied her stance, a group of Fire Nation soldiers surrounding her; she didn't want to be the bait, but Zuko's agility meant she didn't have a choice in the matter- he would make sure the girls were safe, and she would give the Fire Nation soldiers a well deserved beat down. The soldiers had already surrounded her, and that meant the only way out was through; that was just how she liked it, however, she would make her opponents falter rather than waste energy on trying to actually beat them. One of the soldiers, who was holding a spear, raced forward to strike her; she saw it coming, sidestepping the spear, and grabbing it's shaft, using his force against him, the spear flipping up and striking him flat on the head, the blunt sound of his nose breaking on contact. He grumbled in pain, but was unable to stop her from using his spear to strike him in the side of the head, flinging him to the ground; she threw the spear away, knowing the weapon was too clunky for her to effectively use anyway, returning to form with her fans readied.

"What are you morons waiting for! Set her alight!" one of the soldiers screamed out an order, making her instinctively duck, missing the volley of fire beams that were sent to try and turn her into a human candle; she smirked after their attacks, and then decided to go on the offensive, knowing her traditional tactics of waiting for the right moment wouldn't help against balls of fire.

Throwing a retracted fan straight into one of the soldier's heads, she distracted her opponents quickly enough that she had time to pull out her katana; she was relieved that she had gotten all of her warrior gear from their camp at the customs area, otherwise she might find herself under-armed to fight the enemies she had trained her entire life to face. Another spear came her way, and she cut it in half before deflecting the shaft back into her opponent's face; turning around, she cut through the flames of another firebending attack before slashing at her opponent, whose arm was viciously sliced by her quick motion. Before she could swing her blade back around, she was hit in the side by a fire blast, and fell to the ground, gritting her teeth as she relented making a scream from the sharp pain she felt.

"You bastards." she grumbled under her breath, feeling around on the ground beside her for a weapon she could use to get her revenge.

Instead of getting up with her sword, she grabbed her other fan and threw it opened at her opponent, the weapon cutting right into his face, which she realised by the blood splatter that came after she hit him; smirking that she had at the very least dealt with a few of them, she grabbed her katana once more, pulling herself back to her feet. The pain she felt from the burn was still quite raw, but she was able to hold herself together; copying a motion she had seen Zuko use once with his blades, she was able to disperse a fire blast sent her way, before she took a formidable stance once more, knowing that at the very least she could look intimidating. When one of the enemy soldiers raced at her, she sidestepped him, cutting her blade right down at him, to be surprisingly stopped by a powerful defensive use of firebending that shielded him from her blade, so powerful that it nearly forced her blade out of hand. She looked at her opponent, who was wearing the usual skull mask and armour of a firebending soldier, and spat right in his face, taking him off guard; using her opportunity, she swung her blade right at his shin, cutting into his leg, making him scream out in anguish. She wasn't ready for a fire-powered punch that came her way a few moments later, hitting her helmet, saving her face from a serious burn; however she was still flung to the side with full force, her arms breaking her fall as her blade was thrown away.

"My fucking leg!" the soldier exclaimed in pain, clasping at his bleeding leg as he fell to the ground, the warrior relieved that he wouldn't be getting up to try and fight her; she rubbed at the side of her head, which stung with pain from the punch, and soon realised he wasn't the last enemy she had to fight. Another soldier, this one looking to be higher ranked than the previous one, stood wearing no helmet, looking at her with some distaste.

"Do I have to do all the work myself?" he rhetorically asked his downed soldiers, before approaching Suki, who grasped out for her sword; the soldier quickly sent a fireball at her hand as she reached out, hitting it spot on; she gritted her teeth, her eyes beginning to water.

"Argh!" she shouted out, trying to return to her feet, "I'm not done yet, not 'til my friends are safe." she gritted her teeth, voicing her determination; it was less for her opponent and more to remind herself why she was fighting, lest she become disenchanted with the battle.

"Brilliant choice." he mocked her, charging up a fire blast before he sent it at her, Suki rolling out of the way of his attack; she gritted her teeth, then using her left hand, which wasn't burnt like her right, reaching out to grab a fan.

This time she was able to grab her weapon in time, and used the fan to deflect away another fireball sent her way; she smirked, knowing that she at least had that advantage still. Although her head still hurt, she returned to her feet, her knees shaking as she tried to retake form.

"Not today." she mumbled under her breath, before her opponent sent another blast at her, Suki cutting through the attack with her fan.

Her opponent gritted his teeth, and instead of sending another fire blast at her, he charged up a beam, the powerful stream of flames pushing at her fan, forcing her back, her stance quickly faltering; after a few moments, the Kyoshi Warrior realised that she was going to fall over, and decided to hold the blade up as she lowered herself down. It didn't go to plan, the power of the stream forcing her onto her back, nearly setting her face on fire; she gritted her teeth, realising that she had been defeated- there was nothing else she could do.

Before her opponent could finish his attack, she could her a distinctively raspy and loud shout in the distance, "Hey!" she heard Zuko exclaim, her opponent turning around to face him.

"What?" he asked the masked boy with a tone of confusion.

It turned out that those would be the last words uttered by that soldier, who was struck square in the chest with a bolt of lightning, having no time to scream or defend himself; he simply was flung across the ground, the sound of his body scratching the gravelly surface audible.

The soldier whose leg she had cut, who was sitting down in pain, having witnessed the attack, gasped in horror, "Wh-what... who the fuck is this guy?" he asked, only to be answered by Zuko kicking him in the head, blood splattering out of his mouth as he fell to the ground unconscious.

The Blue Spirit looked right back at her, his mask disguising what ever he had been feeling; she felt a poignant sense of completion- he had evened the debts out, in the end. He walked up to her, Suki still cringing in pain; she reached up to touch him, her hand leading to his mask, which she grappled and took off his face. Now she could see his face, she understood; the sense of fear in his eyes were so present that it sent a chill down her spine.

"Z-Zuko... you did it." she told him, the Prince simply smiling at her, tears falling down his cheeks; without another word he grabbed her into an embrace, holding her tight and lifting her from the ground.

She sighed with a sense of relief, and knew that she would be safe; her face hurt, her side hurt, her hand hurt, but at the very least, Zuko was there to comfort her. His hold was enough to assure her that they were together, and with that, they could overcome everything.


	25. The Chase

_Wiping dust from the elegant desk that sat in the middle of the old and book-filled study, Azula smirked at the sight of such an abode of knowledge; she was keen to learn about the Fire Nation and how they could best fight their war against the lesser nations, and her dragging her brother along to sneak into her grandfather's old rooms was something she thought to be quite an effective use of her time._

_"A-Azula, should we really be in here? The doors were locked for a reason." her brother advised her, the Princess rolling her eyes at his worried tone._

_"Father doesn't use these rooms, and grandfathers been dead for years now. It's ripe for the picking, Zuzu." she argued, the Crown Prince sighing with a sense of defeat, signifying that he agreed with her._

_"Fine then, so what: are we going to read a bunch of old books?" he asked her, to which she scoffed._

_"No, dear brother, we're going to find out how to be the best Prince and Princess to ever walk the halls of this palace." she tone him in a determined tone, "I don't know about you, but I am looking forward to serving my role."_

_"Looking forward to what? Commanding armies in the Earth Kingdom?" he asked her with a sense of disbelief, "No offense, but I don't think you'd be good for that kind of job." he admitted, making her scowl at him for a moment, before considering the possible implications of such advice._

_"Well then Zuzu, I agree with you. It's below me to order men around, I want to orchestrate the greatest victory in all of our history." she proclaimed, turning to the old map that lay on the wall of the study, lining out the wide expanse of the Four Nations; pointing up to Ba Sing Se, she smirked confidently, "The impenetrable city has never fallen to a Fire Nation force, and I want to figure out why." she told her brother, "So I can be the one to utterly annihilate the Earth Kingdom." she clenched a fist in determination, her brother raising a brow at her._

_"I'm pretty sure it hasn't fallen because it's got a lot of people, a lot of soldiers and has walls bigger that the rim of the caldera." he told her, recalling the descriptions that their uncle had vividly given in his letters before his disgraceful defeat._

_"That is true, but Zuzu, that can't be all. We only see what we want to see- a powerful, undefeatable enemy, but they're not, no one is." she argued, her brother nodding along with interest._

_"Huh, you've got a point." he raised a finger to his chin, Azula placing her hands on her hips with confidence._

_"I've always got a point, brother. Haven't you fingered that out yet?" she asked him rhetorically, Zuko sighing before giving her a curt nod._

_"Yeah, yeah, you're pretty smart. But wits can't win a war alone- it takes determination." he expressed his feelings, the Princess relenting to roll her eyes at her brother's expectable response; he was always so determined, that was his whole way of trying to live- she couldn't blame him for thinking that way, but she knew she ought to offer him a bit of advice on the matter._

_"Zuzu, you might be more determined than any of those rock throwing savages, but that won't win you the war, that'll just leave you dead, like cousin Lu Ten." she simply put it to him, whose jaw dropped at her rather blunt example._

_"Z-Zula... you can't just say that, like his life meant nothing." he told her, the sadness in his eyes notable; she felt all too similar when it came to the thought of their dead cousin, but she knew no one could change what happened._

_"Oh, that's where you're wrong, brother." she piped herself up, giving him a rather serious glare, "Lu Ten is dead because of stupid tactics of determination. I want you to remember that." she stressed, "If you forget it, you'll probably end up as him. You wouldn't want to disappoint Uncle, would you?" she asked him, almost mockingly, something that he took completely seriously, to her surprise._

_"No I wouldn't." he stressed, "That would be too hard for him- Lu Ten was his only son, and he treats me kindly... more th-" he begun, Azula cutting him off from saying something he might regret._

_"Yeah, yeah, Uncle's a lazy fart who likes to give you advice, and somehow he likes you more than me." she scoffed, Zuko rolling his eyes with amusement._

_"Of course he doesn't like you, you're always so snappy at him." he argued, the Princess shaking her head._

_"I don't care if he likes me, brother. But you better remember my advice: it'll save your life one day." she simply put her thoughts to words, her brother nodding, his eyes showing her the strength she wanted to see in them._

_"Well then, are we going to look at some of grandfather's books?" he asked, the Princess smirking._

_"Yes, and if they're poorly written duds, we can burn them." she told him, "We need to be learning the best, nothing less."_

_"I mean, maybe we should go to war meetings instead. That's where all the action happens." he considered, making her shake her head._

_"I'd rather not. We are children, no one would listen to us." she admitted truthfully, the Prince looking at her with a glance of confidence._

_"I'm sure you could wow them with all those useless facts you know about old battles and strategies." he offered, the Princess snickering, giving her brother a smile, appreciating the backhanded respect he gave her._

_"Oh, I will one day. How else will I get the opportunity to finally crush our enemies?"_

* * *

Kneeling down, Azula grabbed up a bit of white fur from the ground; glancing up into the sky, she looked around, realising that there was only one kind of creature she knew of that might be dropping white fur from the sky- the Avatar's sky bison.

"The Avatar is close." she spoke her thoughts; Mai and Ty Lee, who were standing nearby, approached her with interest.

"The Avatar?" the acrobat questioned, "How can you tell?" she asked, the Princess grabbing the clump of fur and showing it to her.

"The Avatar's beast, a sky-bison, has this colour fur, and guessing by the time of the year, it might be shedding, which gives us an advantage on tracking him down." she explained the rather obvious conclusion she came to.

Mai raised a brow with slight confusion, "But weren't we meant to be trying to not actually capture him?" she asked, the Princess scrunching her fingers on her nose-bridge; she hated doing treacherous things when they weren't really in her self-interest, but she knew that Zuko's title was something that meant more than just a pittance of endearment.

"No we're not, but we ought to shake him up a little, get a good scope on what their abilities are. If we force them to a confrontation, we can gauge them effectively, which means that when it comes to Zuko capturing him, we can give him a fair warning." she acknowledged, the two girls nodding along with comprehension.

"Well then, back to the tank-train?" Ty Lee asked, the Princess curtly nodding in response.

"With no time we'll be able to catch up; this is state-of-the-art Fire Nation technology." she admitted, before furrowing a brow, "Speaking of which, I have an incoming shipment that may come of use to us." she noted, the girls turning back to face her.

"What? Some new weapon?" Mai asked rather bluntly, Azula shaking her head, her lips curling it thought of what she was to receive.

"No, something that can even the odds with the Avatar's agile flight; a flying machine that War Minister Qin recently acquired and is re-engineering for use in battle. A smaller one would suffice us in following the Avatar from the air if need be." she explained, the acrobat grinning, jumping up giddy at the sound of what they might get to experience.

"Flying?!" she asked, "Oh, I'm already excited. I wonder what clouds taste like. It's going to be so much fun!" she grabbed Mai by the shoulders, trying to physically express her excitement, much to the other girl's distaste.

"Yay." she responded a specifically monotonous and sarcastic tone, making Azula snicker before she begun to walk on toward the tank-train, raising a hand to indicate her friends to follow.

"Now, let us return to our transportation. We'll be riding all night." she stressed.

"All night?" Ty Lee looked in confusion, the Princess smirking at her friend.

"The Avatar will try to run, that's his tactic in most situations. When he can't run any further, we can put on a good show." she explained her plan, the two girls nodding at her, before beginning to follow her back toward the tank-train, which stood ready, waiting to leave.

Her guards immediately opened the doors for them, and let the trio into Azula's personal carriage; the girls sat down in the lounge, Ty Lee sprawling her legs widely over the couch while the other two girls sat rather awkwardly beside her.

She raised a brow at them, looking a bit embarrassed in realising she was the only one who was relaxing, "What? I'm just- uh- loosening up a bit. I don't want to be all tense when we go fight the Avatar." she argued for herself, the Princess smiling at her, considering her argument to be fair.

"Well, then, perhaps you'd like to recline in your quarters for a while. We won't catch the Avatar very quickly." she suggested, shaking her head in disapproval.

"No, we should be prepared. We've got to act like we mean it." she argued, surprising Azula, who until that point had seen Ty Lee's attitude toward their whole situation as being quite casual; with nothing else to do, she seemed to have set her mind on their mission.

"Ty Lee, you're not usually this serious. Are you in a fighting mood?" she asked, the acrobat smirking at her, grabbing both her and Mai by the shoulders and pulling them into a huddle.

"We can be the best fake fighters ever. Knives, chi-blocking and blue fire- we're going to make an impression." she proclaimed, the stoic girl looking at her with slight confusion.

"But we're already made an impression. Did you forget our fight at Om- New Ozai?" she corrected herself, to the approval of the Princess, who was half-surprised that her demands to have the name of the city changed actually went through without a hitch.

"Yeah, but I wasn't expecting the Avatar, that waterbender and that cutie." she defended herself, the Princess snickering at her describing of Sokka as the 'cutie'.

"What's so funny?" she asked her with a rather defensive tone, seemingly offended.

"Oh, you already have a crush on the Water Tribe boy." she simply acknowledged, "I'm not surprised, but come on Ty Lee, we're meant to be fighting, not shopping around for boyfriends." she argued, the acrobat crossing her arms.

"Well, I'm always open to the possibilities. Plus, we're going to find Zuko," she stressed, glancing at Mai momentarily, "aren't we?"

The usually stoic and serious girl blushed slightly before narrowing her eyes at him, "I'm not here to get a boyfriend." she deflected, "I'm just glad I got out of that damn city. Chasing down the Avatar and Zuko is a small price for a bit of freedom." she argued, the Princess clapping her hands, smirking at her with approval.

"I couldn't agree more Mai. We girls deserve the freedom that is owed us; after all, we are the best the Fire Nation has to offer." she argued, knowing that a little pep talk wouldn't hurt.

"Yeah, we are!" Ty Lee raised a fist, "My aura's a little more bright than usual." she noted with a raised finger, Azula looking at her with interest, her lips forming a cunning smirk.

"Oh, like the fire of the sun?" she asked, the acrobat looking at both her friends with determination.

"Exactly like the fire of the sun."

* * *

Sokka was greatly relieved to be off of Appa and back touching the earth; falling onto the ground was a little painful, but the desire to sleep outweighed the slight pain he felt over his body. He had had enough of Katara and Toph's bickering, which wasn't stopping despite the threat they faced; whatever or whoever was chasing them he knew wasn't going to give up easily.

"Okay, forget about setting up camp." he declared, wiggling along the ground like a worm inside his sleeping bag, "I'm finding the softest pile of dirt and going to sleep." he stressed, lying himself down and enjoying the feeling of being still and warm in his sleeping bag, despite being out in the rough.

A few moments later, he could hear his sister's aggrieved voice, "That's good because Toph wasn't going to help anyway!" she shouted, the young earthbender snickering audible nearby.

"Oh, I didn't realise the baby still needed somebody to tuck her in bed." she mocked her, Sokka relenting to laugh at her comments, which he had to admit, were pretty funny; he pulled himself along a little bit, trying to find a more comfortable position on the ground.

Aang's voice was heard next, sounding as disgruntled as he felt about the whole argument situation, "Come guys, there's something after us and we don't even what or who it is." he admitted, the Water Tribe warrior musing in thought.

He had no idea what could move as fast as Appa, but he was in no mood or inclination to find out; his sister answered the question a few moments later, "Hmph- it could be that Princess. Zuko's sister. The one who tried to catch us in Omashu." she offered up, Toph asking with a rather confused tone.

"Uh- who's Zuko? And who's the 'Princess'?" she asked with a voice of disbelief.

"Oh, he's our- um- friend, that we met on Kyoshi island. It turned out he's a Prince of the Fire Nation, and this girl- Azula- she's his sister, and she's pretty scary." he explained, knowing that he ought to inform the little earthbending girl on all the details.

"Wait- pretty scary, or pretty and scary?" Toph asked in clarification, making Sokka blush as he rolled himself over.

"Uh- scary. Mostly scary." he deflected her comments, before Katara decided to jump on the chance of a joke.

"Oh- someone sounds embarrassed." she snickered, "Do you have a little crush?" she asked him, making him clench and roll over in his sleeping bag, not wanting to have to defend himself verbally when he was barely capable of speaking at that point.

"Just let me sleep." he simply told her, the group falling quiet, letting Sokka doze off slightly, although he was still conscious when Momo suddenly jumped on his back.

When the little creature begun to chitter intensely, the Water Tribe teen sighed with frustration, barely able to form a sentence in response, "No Momo, shhh..." he held up a finger to direct the flying lemur, "Sleepy time."

After a few moments, Momo climbed off of hem and continued to chitter, Sokka placing his hands in his face, not wanting to accept the situation for what it was.

"Oh don't tell me..." he mumbled into his hands, most certainly wanting to remain right where he was and get a good nights sleep.

"That's impossible. There's no where they could have tracked us." Aang exclaimed in a shocked tone.

Toph sounded just as worried, despite the tough exterior she loved to espouse, "I can feel it with my own two feet!" she confirmed, the Water Tribesman burying his head in his sleeping bag, refusing to get up when he didn't want to.

He remained where he was as the others got up and begun to look around; at that point, he could begin to faintly feel the shaking. He mused for a moment that was what Toph felt with her feet, the idea feeling somewhat surreal in his mind; Sokka dismissed the thought after moment, realising he must've been going delirious from a lack of sleep.

"Let's get out of here." his sister most wisely advised, making him sigh with frustration, knowing that he wouldn't get the sleep he most surely needed.

"Maybe we should face them." Aang calmly offered, "Find out who they are. Who knows, maybe they're friendly."

The Water tribe warrior was no where near as hopeful as the young Avatar, "Always the optimist..." he mumbled, pulling himself out of the sleeping bag, knowing that he would probably have to fight against whoever was chasing them.

He could see a large vehicle in the distance, and from the looks of it, it was certainly of Fire Nation design; he momentarily mused The Mechanist might have been the one to design it. A door suddenly opened on it, a burst steam bursting from the interior, and a few moments later three mongoose-lizards came out, the creatures mounted by three individuals, although at the distance he couldn't exactly discern who they were. As they began to approach with speed, he realised he knew exactly who they were; it was Princess Azula, and the two girls who were with her at Omashu.

His sister was quick to point out this fact, with a rather shocked tone, "Look, it's Azula, and those other girls from Omashu!" she exclaimed, Toph snickering at the news.

"Sokka, it's your girlfriend!" she jested, the warrior not approving of the joke.

The four of them took form, and he found relief in the fact that his comrades seemed as tired as he was, but that made him more scared as he saw the three girls racing forward on their beasts.

"We can take them. Three on three." Toph proclaimed, to which he raised a brow with confusion, knowing for a fact they were four of them- he was sure she was old enough to count, so it had to be a mistake.

"Actually Toph, there's four of us." he noted, making her look at him with slight embarrassment.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't count you." she admitted, "You know, no bending and all."

Her words made him contort his face with rage, offended by the suggestion that he was incapable of being on par with them just because he couldn't bend, "I can still fight!" he screamed, making her pull a smug face.

"Okay, three on three plus Sokka." she corrected herself, making him clench his hands in anger, flushing red with rage; he would not be disgraced as a warrior by a twelve-year-old of all people.

"Errrgh!" he screamed a meaningless vocalisation, intent on expressing his anger toward the little annoying girl, who in the span of two sentences had made him more angry than he been in the past few months.

Sokka was fully capable of fighting, but had little chance to when Toph simply raised columns of earth to try and stop the mongoose lizards, although the strategy was of little effect as they simply clambered over and continued their approach.

Calming down a little bit, he looked at his friends with a fearful face, "Well, we wanted to find out who they were and we found out." he explained, putting his boomerang back in it's holster, "Now let's get out of here." he directed, Aang and Katara already getting on Appa, the Water Tribe warrior scooping up his sleeping bag before climbing up the furry side of the sky bison.

Toph remained where she was, using her earthbending to raise a massive wall in between them at the three girls; he sighed with relief, realising that the little earthbender might have stopped their advance. Those thoughts were proven wrong as a hole exploded through the wall, the sound of thunder accompanying it; he didn't realise firebenders could create lightning, but it seemed to be so as Azula led on through the hole upon her lizard. The knife girl fired one of her crazy ranged weapons at Toph, who was able to use her bending to launch herself up into the air and out of the way; a few moments later she landed right on the saddle beside them, clearly shaken by the events that just unfolded.

With the group together, Aang directed the sky-bison up into the air, "Appa, yip yip!"

A few moments later, the blind girl looked his way with shock, although the smirk she pulled indicated that she was going to make fun of him, "Sokka, you didn't tell me your girlfriend could shoot lightning." she noted with a mocking grin, the warrior scowling in frustration.

"She isn't my girlfriend! I don't even know her!" he exclaimed, before rolling himself over into his sleeping bag, wanting to return to sleep; at that rate he knew he wouldn't be getting any.

* * *

"Wads of wet fur, how delightful."

Mai's dry and monotonous comment about the bits of fur in Azula's hand made Ty Lee raise a brow in interest; of all the things she could take note of, it was that 'wad' wasn't the right word.

"Hmmm... they're not wads, they're more like bundles, or bunches?" she asked, trying to remember the word she was thinking of it, "It's got an 'uh' sound." she remembered, the stoic girl looking back at her, taking no humour from her mistake.

"Clumps?" she asked, the acrobat grasping her hands together in happiness.

"Clumps! They're clumps!" she exclaimed, hugging Mai, who didn't seem to appreciate her hug.

"The trail goes this way." she noted, the Princess returning to her full height, and looks in the direction of the trail of bison fur.

"The Avatar's trying to give us the slip." she indicated to the broken tree-tops above them; Ty-Lee guessed that the sky-bison must've flown through a very low height, "You two head in that direction and keep your eye out for the bison." she explained, "I'll follow this trail."

Getting back on her mongoose-lizard, she patted the animal on the neck before pulling on its reins, both her and Mai heading off in the opposite direction to that which the Princess took. Their mounts increased to almost scary speeds, the acrobat holding onto the reins tightly at the duo rode on following the trail of destruction left by the sky-bison flying low through the forest. Although it took them a while to get close to the sky-bison, the trail of fur broken branches was consistent; their steeds with as fast as ever, and it was only a matter of time before they came in sight of the Avatar's friends riding upon his beast. In the distance she could see them becoming frantic on the animal's back. Ty Lee was silently thankful that she had the time to sleep; the sight of panic before her was the result of being deprived of that necessity, something that made her feel a little guilty. They weren't really even trying to capture the Avatar and his friends, it was more to shake them down, test out their skills; she knew her chi-blocking was a powerful tool that couldn't be matched up by skilled benders if they weren't prepared. She could tell from their fight at Omashu that only the Avatar and the Water Tribe girl seemed to be benders, although they seemed to have had an earthbender join their little gang.

"We're going to catch them!" she exclaimed as they continued to close in on the slowly flying sky-bison.

Mai scoffed at her suggestion, "We're only going to catch them because their ride's about to fall asleep." she indicated up with a point, Ty Lee noting how slow and dazed the flying of the massive creature had become; they didn't even need the tank-train to chase them anymore.

The duo continued their approach behind the sky-bison, which had turned on an angle to fly toward the nearby river; the beast skimmed over the trees before descending down toward the water. The acrobat pushed on the reins of her mongoose-lizard, knowing that the two Water Tribe teens couldn't get away from them; she saw the sky-bison land on the other side of the river. Taking their mounts into the water, Ty Lee realised with amazement that they were just as effective in the water as they were on land, paddling with haste across the water; a few moments before they could have reached the other side however, the waterbending girl sent out a wave through the river right toward her. The acrobat was always well aware of her surroundings, jumping up from the saddle just in time as the mongoose-lizard was swept away by the powerful wave; she gracefully fly up before landing on a tree branch, jumping from tree top to tree top in pursuit of the waterbender. Somersaulting down to the ground, she readied a stance, prepared to quickly dispense with the Avatar's friends; she knew that her skills would give her an edge, and reminded herself that she actually needed to lose in the end, otherwise their plan to help Zuko wouldn't end very well.

Ty Lee sent a number of jabs at her opponent, who was at the same time trying to open up her water skin to prepare her own attack; despite her speed, the waterbender eventually was able to use her pouch to her advantage, sending out a few rapid discs of water, which the acrobat gracefully dodged by cartwheeling backwards. She glanced over and saw Mai dealing with the Water Tribe boy, and continued to dodge the girl's attacks before trying to jab her again to try and disable her bending; the attack failed however as she was hit in the chest with a burst of water. Though frustrated by the resistance being put up against her, she was relieved that she hadn't been turned into an icicle by her opponent; she jumped out of the way as her companion turned to firing her ranged attacks at the waterbender, giving her the opportunity to deal with the non-bending boy, who she knew wouldn't stand up well to her agile attacks.

She somersaulted away from the girl before approaching him, his eyes opening wide realising he'd have to go toe to toe with her. Ty lee was able to quickly land some quick blows on him, one of them incapacitating his right arm, making him drop his boomerang; before he could try and hit her with his machete, she chi-blocked his left arm as well- the same came to his leg as he tried to kick her. Before she could deliver a final blow to paralyse him, he used his head as a making her hand audibly buckle as she tried to punch his head; reeling in pain she shook her fist before looking at him with distaste.

Standing off balance he looked at her with pride in his tact move, "Good try, but no." she rolled her eyes at his comments, ignoring him from that point onward, knowing that no matter how much of a cutie he was, he was no good at fighting, and therefore not her concern.

Turning back to face the waterbender, she saw her preparing an attack, lifting water from the river to send at Mai; taking a stance, she readied to jump at her, knowing that her friend would need her help against the skilled bender. Unsurprisingly however, Mai pinned her opponent to a tree trunk with two shuriken knives; the water fell back down into the river, assuring them that she was unable to fight back effectively without the use of her hands.

Approaching her friend, she smirked as the Water Tribe boy hobbled over somewhat fearfully, "How are you doing?"

"Well, you know..." the girl simply responded, her darting eyes indicating to Ty Lee that she quite scared by the two of them.

"I thought when Ty Lee and I finally caught you guys, it would be more exciting. Oh well, victory is boring." she lamented; as if by a twist of fate, the two of them were sudeenly swept off their feet by a powerful wind-blast.

For a moment as she flew through the air over the river she thought that the Avatar must have returned to save his friends, but it actually turned out to just be his sky-bison; falling into the water, Ty Lee quickly emerged from the flow, shaking the water off her as she climbed up the opposite bank of the river.

"Well- I guess that solves that. We didn't capture them." she acknowledged with a sense of relief, although she felt a sense of pride in the fact they could defeat them so easily.

"Yes. I'm guessing Azula's dealing with the Avatar right now." her friend responded, looking down at her drenched garbs with disgust; wrenching the water out of her braid, she made a little smile in thought.

"Was it just me, or was that guy kind of cute?" she asked, Mai casting an annoyed glance her way.

"You do remember he's an enemy of the Fire Nation- and he's the one who killed Zhao." she stressed, the acrobat looking back at her with a self-conscious blush.

"What can I say, I like the cute bad boys... and I think you have that same preference." she winked at her friend, who simply rolled her eyes before whistling her mongoose-lizard over.

"We're not talking about him." the stoic girl deflected her comments, before pointing to the sky-bison, which had taken to the air once more.

"Azula's probably going to have to deal with a little more trouble. I think we should head over and make sure she's alright." she advised Ty Lee, who nodded with agreement, making the same whistling to call her own animal over.

"Yeah- Zula's the greatest firebender ever, but she's not invincible."

* * *

"All right, Azula- you've caught up with me. Now what do you want? I thought you were on our side!"

She scoffed at the Avatar's comments; her inadvertently finding along side him against Zhao was just circumstance, they weren't on the same side. She placed her hands on her hips, confidently smirking back at him.

"I'm not on anyone's side, dummy." she proclaimed, "Your morals- rules- they don't apply to me. Neither does the Fire Nation's." she simply told him, the airbender looking at her with confusion.

"But what do you want?" he asked her again, the Princess chuckling at him.

"That's none of your business Avatar. I guess you could say I'm here to capture you; don't take it personally." she offered him, taking a firebending stance.

"So what? You think you can just capture me- I have a sky-bison." he proclaimed, amused by her suggestions.

"Oh, how did that help you today. I'm here because I can out-pace your furry friend; that's the power of a hundred years of progress, Avatar." she mocked him, the young airbender looking back at her with determination.

"Fine then, you want to fight? We can fight. I've had enough running today." he glared at her, the Princess silently impressed with his confidence; she knew that it must have taken a lot of frustration to get him to the point of wanting to confront her instead of running away.

"Are you sure you want to fight me?" she asked him, the Avatar not responding, much to her surprise; he was as serious as she had ever seen him, reminding herself that being possessed by Avatar Roku and destroying a Fire Temple didn't count because it wasn't him.

After a few moments silence she sent out a quick blast of blue flames at her opponent, who used his staff to disperse the attack; she was frustrated by his defensive stance, and quickly sent a volley of fire blasts at his feet, making him jump up onto an abandoned building nearby. Now with the high ground, he sent a number of cutting waves of air at her, forcing Azula to move back as her attempts to strike him were dispersed, or worse, redirected right back at her; realising that casually sending fire blasts at the airbender wouldn't give her the victory she desired, she charged up a blast with her fingers, sending two powerful bolts of fire from her index fingers right at the Avatar, setting his staff on fire for a moment, the spinning motion of the tool dispersing the blue embers within a few seconds. Instead of sending another attack right at him, she fired a beam below the Avatar, causing the already decayed structure he was standing on to begin to collapse, the facade of the building setting alight in a glorious blue inferno; the Avatar's glider forming a shadow in front of her indicated that he had escaped her attack, giving her another opportunity to attack him, firing a volley of bolts from her fingers once more the flames singing his outfit as he swerved around, trying to avoid her attacks. Deciding that she had had enough of his dodging tactics, she decided to fire a warning shot, generating lighting between her finger tips before sending a bolt up into the air above her; the Avatar flew back to the ground right after that, now standing some distance away from her with his staff ready to fight.

"Why are you doing this? This is crazy!" he exclaimed in confusion, the Princess snickering as she approached him, lighting her hands on fire.

"Quite to the contrary, Avatar. Everything is going to plan." she told him, knowing that he would have no comprehension of her higher motives; he would be as blind as any other person from the lesser nations, blinded by their hate and bias toward the Fire Nation.

As he tried to push her back with a wind blast, she simply blast through it with a fireball, the resulting explosion sending embers all around; before she could reach the Avatar, he had raced into one of the abandoned buildings once more. She followed on after, glancing around the structure to note the airbender hanging on a ledge on the upper floor, which had seemed to have partially caved in; throwing a fireball at him, the Avatar swiftly jumped out of the way, using his bending to conjure a ball of air, riding upon it around above her. The Princess glared at him with frustration, using her bending to charge a jump up onto the second floor, where she was able to send a powerful fire blast at the Avatar, who was flung right through a window trying to deflect the attack. She opened her eyes wide, realising that she had finally gotten a hit on him; racing across to the window, she realised she had knocked him only onto a overhang, where he stood right up against the wall, as if he thought he could hide from her.

"Oh, so you think you can hide?" she mocked him, the Avatar gritting his teeth as he jumped up to dodge another fireball; she used her firebending once more to charge a jump, following him to the very top of the facade, now on the remains of the building's roof.

Now standing on the roof of the building facing each other, she simply took a stance, lining her feet up along the narrow ledge upon which they stood; before she could send a fireball right at him, the young airbender used his bending to jump right over the top of her, before using his staff to strike a concentrated wind blast at her legs, nearly making her trip and fall off the roof. Standing on his toes, he sent another gust of wind at her, bt the Princess was more than ready, using a powerful beam of fire to cut through his attack before racing up to close in on the Avatar; he used his staff to try and send another blast through the air at her, but she charged flames around her palm, allowing her to grab the top of his staff, both of their bending attacks nullifying each other. Lighting her other hand full of flames, she smirked at her opponent, knowing that she had the chance to strike him; she was sure to make sure the hit wouldn't be too damaging, just enough to scare him off. Before Azula could hit him, however, a blast of water knocked her right off of her feet, flinging her from the roof and throwing her down onto the floor below; glancing through the windows she saw the Avatar's two Water Tribe friends and his sky-bison.

"Katara!" she could hear the Avatar exclaim, the Princess rolling her eyes; she had been enjoying their duel, even if she knew that it wasn't ever going to end with her as the ultimate victor.

Gritting her teeth, she sent a fire blast up above her into the wall; being on her back didn't mean that she couldn't fight. The attack sent the roof on fire, and she quickly climbed on down to the bottom floor while her opponent unsurprisingly glided away from the burning building. Now on the ground floor, she stood at the doorway, where Sokka was awaiting her, with his machete and boomerang in hand; she smirked at him, the boy simply mumbling with an awkward face.

"Uh- hi." he introduced, the Princess simply hitting him in the chest with a fire ball to force him back.

As he moved out of her way, she simply glared at him for a moment, instinctively throwing a fireball his way, which he cut in half with his machete.

"Get out of my way, Sokka." she advised him with rather annoyed voice.

A moment later a water whip struck her back, forcing her to stumble backward; she reminded herself who was the most serious threat amongst them. Staring down Katara, she sent a stream of blue flames at her in counter, before she sent her stream upward, trying to strike the Avatar, who was still gliding around above them. She missed her attack, but the airbender was forced to respond, using his staff to send an air blast her way, the Princess sidestepping the attack with ease; he would have to get a little closer if he wanted to land a hit. She then made a wall of flames to ward off the two Water Tribe teens, who were getting uncomfortably close; unlike the last airbender, there was a chance they might actually try to hurt her if given the opportunity. The Avatar landed behind her, making her turn around and throw a fire ball at his head, her attack barely missing; he jumped around and joined his friends, the three of them standing ready to fight her. She quickly sent out a cutting arc of fire, which was dispersed by both waterbending and airbending; scowling with frustration, she charged up a blast to fire at her opponents, but suddenly found the ground underneath her shift, making her fall over to the side.

"I thought you guys could use a little help." she heard a voice remark, a high pitched feminine voice; glancing to her side she noticed the earthbender that had been missing from the fight.

She got up to her feet and begun to run away, racing down an alleyway to try and walk around her opponents, whistling the mongoose-lizard so she could use it to get away from her opponents; Azula was not one to run from the field lightly, but she realised well enough that she would not be capable of defeating her opponents all at once- airbending and waterbending were bad enough, but an earthbender would pose a serious threat in battle. As she tried to get away, the little earthbending girl lifted up a wall, forcing her to turn and face the group; she sighed with frustration, using her firebending to launch her into the air above her opponents, landing behind them, where they looked at her with shock.

"Congratulations." she mocking told them, the four of them taking form, "You're all lucky that I'm not here to utterly destroy you."

Her opponents looked tense, but their stances weren't broken as they readied to draw a final strike on her; she quickly pulled her hands around and charged sparks between her fingers, before directing a lightning blast at the feet of her enemies, the ground exploding up in a massive dust cloud. Using the advantage of the chaos, she used her bending to propel herself back over her opponents and race over to her mongoose-lizard; by the time the dust cleared, they were all looking at her with shock. Knowing that she ought to take her leave and avoid being struck by a rock or water whip to the head, she simply chuckled, grabbing the reins of her mount she glanced back at the group with a calm face.

"Remember this, Avatar. You only alive because it is more useful to me than not."


	26. Bloodied Sword

_"What do you mean, you are wrong?"_

_Zuko didn't want to explain himself to his uncle while he could barely put a sentence together with his mouth, let alone in his mind; his thoughts were all over the place, knowing that his drunken stupor had let his mind down a path he hadn't want it to go._

_"I- I don't know." he mumbled to his uncle, who looked back at the cup that he had thrown across the room._

_"Why did you do that, nephew?" Iroh asked him, his question the most reasonable one to ask him given the circumstances._

_"Because I'm angry." he grumbled, pulling himself back against the wall._

_"Angry?" the retired general raised a brow at him, "Nephew, you're always angry these days. What was it this time? Is it because I made you drink the bajiu?" he questioned with a rather regretful tone, the Prince shaking his head._

_"No Uncle, actually it's not that." he acknowledged; he felt in a way that it was his uncle's fault he was feeling and thinking the way he was, but he wouldn't blame him for his anger- the Prince was the root cause of his own problems._

_"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have pressured you into this. I am not the best uncle I could be, at times." he admitted his own fault, Zuko shaking his head, raising his left hand to place on his uncle's shoulder._

_"N-no, it's not you. I- I did this." he deflected his uncle's claim, "You've- you've done nothing but try and help me for years now. It's me, I'm the one who's..." he came to a halt in his exposition, tapping the side of his skull with his other hand, "got problems."_

_Iroh's eyes watered as he looked at him in shock, unable to find words to respond to what he had just said, "Zuko, you- you are not at fault... for this situation." he told him, the Prince shaking his head._

_"I spoke out." he simply told him, "Biggest mistake of my life." he furthered, clenching his fists with frustration as lay himself down onto his bed, "And n-now... I don't even regret it. I'm banished, I'm never going to see my home again, and I don't regret it."_

_"You don't know that. You still have a chance to redeem-" his uncle begun to assure him._

_"No!" he shouted out, scowling with frustration; of all people, his uncle wasn't the one that needed to cover up the truth, "I don't want to hear it!" he demanded, "The Avatar is never coming back! We're stuck here! I'm going to be on this boat!" he decidedly told his uncle, lifting himself up and hammering his fist into the metal wall, "This damn boat, for the rest of my life." he fell to a sob as he tried to express his anger and pain toward the world._

_"Nephew- this isn't the only way." he assured him, "You can't lose hope."_

_Zuko looked back at his uncle with a sense of poignancy; he himself already knew the other way, and it was not something he took lightly._

_He raised his head and looked Iroh with a rather serious face, as serious he could make given his state, "I know, Uncle. But the other way- it's not where I want to go. I- I want to serve my nation."_

_"As would any good prince." the retired general accepted, before his eyes narrowed, "You ought to consider what you want of yourself- you aren't defined by this quest imposed on you." he told him, the Prince nodding with agreement; there were other things he wanted to do with his life other than capture the Avatar and redeem his honour, even if he tried to push them to the back of his mind._

_"I think you need to rest on these matters." he tried to advise him, the Prince looking down, with a sense of shame; he shouldn't have gotten so angry with his uncle- he was not in the right state of mind to even be making any decisions._

_"I c-" Zuko begun to try and argue, before sighing, knowing who between them was right, "Yes. I need to rest." he acknowledged, dropping his head down._

_"I'm glad you agree. Do you need some more water?" he asked of his nephew, who gave a curt, but pained smile back in response._

_"Y-yes, sorry about the cup." he apologised, glancing to the side to see the shattered ceramic cup on the floor, before his eyes narrowed, "Uncle, I need to ask a favour."_

_"What is it?" he asked with a curious tone._

_Zuko sighed, clenching his fists in thought of the one thing that truly wanted; becoming Crown Prince was beyond his reach, getting his mother back was even further, but there was something else he desired- that was revenge._

_"I want to find out exactly where Zhao is stationed." he told him, his uncle's eyes widening with realisation._

_"N-nephew, this is no time for rash decisions." he advised him, the Prince shaking his head in dismissal; this decision had been made years prior, it was only at that point he had the desperation and anger to act upon it._

_"No, Uncle. I made a promise." he told him, thinking back to what he had told Azula all those years ago, "This has to be done."_

* * *

"I can't believe you did that."

Zuko sighed as he grabbed the wet cloth and applied it to Suki's waist, the warrior cringing as she tensed in pain; her comment wasn't exactly on his mind, but his momentary consideration of it could only be responded to with agreement. He wasn't one to take death lightly, and he had told the Kyoshi Warrior just that; he had taken a life for her sake, and he didn't regret it. He understood exactly how she felt after killing that Earth Kingdom soldier; it wasn't fear or disgust, it was relief and consolation in knowing she was safe.

"Yeah, me too." he acknowledged, making her smile at him.

"Thanks, again. Fighting against the Fire Nation... it must have been hard for you." she noted, the Prince shaking his head, grabbing a bandage, ready to redress her wound.

"It's not as hard as you'd think. Saving the Kyoshi Warriors, that mattered more to me than any loyalty to a flag." he dismissed her comments, assuring her that he was okay with what he did; no matter how it made him feel, Zuko didn't find it in his heart to regret his actions.

The fight against the Fire Nation soldiers was already a rather distant thought from his mind, having already returned to Full Moon Bay and back to their duties; Suki was injured enough that she couldn't return to her post immediately, and after dealing with dissatisfied refugees for the evening, he had returned to their camp to tend to her. The local medic had done their job, but as most of her injuries were minor and relatively superficial, she didn't receive as much attention as he would have liked her to; he knew she was tough, but even someone as tough as her needed to be cared for, especially after fighting off a squad-worth of firebenders all by herself.

"I should see if I can buy some herbs to help with the pain. I know, probably more than most people, that burns like these... they're not easy to deal with." he admitted, instinctively wincing his left eye in thought of what had happened to it.

"Y-yeah, I guess you would." she acknowledged, giving him a sympathetic smile, knowing it was a sensitive topic, "Thanks for doing this. I probably should have got Amari, Sawa or Esumi to do this; we did save their lives, after all." she noted, the Prince chuckling in thought; she was right in the end, even if he personally would prefer to handle all of her needs.

"Oh, you should have seen Amari. She- uh- confirmed my own fears." he admitted with a grimace, "Pierced a man's throat with a twig."

"That's a very 'Amari' thing to do." she noted with a little tone of humour; he was happy that he could improve her mood, even if it was with the most morbid anecdote he could pull.

"Well then, I should go see Uncle. I think he might be a little worried after all that happened." he conceded, the Kyoshi Warrior giving him a little smile.

"Of course." she acknowledged, understanding his relationship with his uncle well enough, "Are you going to get some tea?" she asked him, the Prince snickering in thought.

"Did you want some?" he asked, the warrior smiling with a nod.

"U-uh, yeah." she confirmed, Zuko smiling back at her before turning around to glance around the campsite, trying to spot his uncle amongst the plethora of tents; the group had settled themselves amongst the refugees, having found that the employed guards like themselves were not afforded accommodation.

Walking along past the other tents of the warriors, he noted that the others weren't present, their injuries being mostly superficial, back on their duties in protecting the customs area; he knew none of the warriors would want to be back on patrol any time soon. Sighing as he came to the end of the encampment, he turned his glance around, frustrated that his uncle must have been about somewhere. He finally made sight of the old man, who was sitting at a makeshift campfire with a number of refugees, jovially talking and making tea, as he would expect of him.

Approaching the group, his uncle caught sight of him, "Nephew, have you come to join us?" he asked out in a rather loud voice, Zuko cringing at the attention he was given.

"Um, yes." he admitted in a rather quite tone, "I wanted to explain what ended up happening... out there." he furthered, Iroh's eyes widening realising that the conversation they were going to have was going to be rather private; he stepped up from his circle of acquaintances and smiled at them.

"Sorry, I just need to speak with my nephew for a moment." he apologised in advance, before walking over to Zuko, his face and mood clearly changed; he was always concerned for his well-being, and by extension, the well-being of their group as a whole, "Now, what did happen? Amari and the others told me a little but the girls seemed to rather shaken up by the events." he told the Prince what he already knew.

He sighed, knowing that he'd have to tell his uncle first hand what he did, "I didn't tell you this earlier... because it was the furthest thing from my mind, honestly." he admitted, his uncle looking at him with concern.

"What did you do?" he asked, his voice seemingly worried, although about what aspect of their escapade to save the Kyoshi Warriors he was unsure.

"I- I killed a Fire Nation soldier." he admitted, the retired general's eyes widening with shock; before he could continue to explain himself, his uncle pulled him into a hug, trying to assure him without another word that everything was alright.

After a few moments of holding him, his uncle looked up to him with concern, "Nephew, why didn't you say anything earlier?" he asked, the Prince sighing with frustration, knowing the truth was something he felt disturbed to admit.

"Because it didn't matter- Suki's safety was the only thing that did. Now that'd I've thought about it, I realise that I acted- I acted without a second thought." he explained himself, Iroh sighing before giving him a smile, assuring him with a simple curling of his lips that he understood his emotions.

"Killing to save the ones you love is sometimes a necessary action." he admitted, the Prince's eyes widening with thought.

He cared for Suki, but he also cared for the other warriors, his uncle, and even if it seemed distant to him at times, his sister as well; if killing was the only way to save his sister, he knew there was only one person that could possibly stand in his way.

"I- I see that now." he admitted, before he looked down, feeling that he had to address the issue in his mind, "Uncle... what about Azula?" he asked him, his uncle placing a hand on his shoulder, his tone concerned.

"Azula? What do you mean, Zuko?" he asked in clarification.

"Well, I need to redeem her from... from his side." he explained himself, "And if I have to save her from him, then doesn't that-" he began to consider the possibility, cut off by his uncle raising a finger to stop him from speaking.

"Nephew, you don't need to do that. That is nothing like this; Suki and you, helping each other- that is love. You don't need to kill for love, and I'm sure you can find a way to avoid that with your sister." he assured him, Zuko smiling back at him with a sense of hope.

He nodded with agreement, Y-yeah, you're right. I need to make-" before he was cut off by a guard standing up right next to them.

"Excuse me- uh- you two are with the Kyoshi Warriors, aren't you?" the guard asked them, the Prince glancing at his uncle momentarily before nodding.

"Yes, we are." he confirmed, the guard glancing around the campsite before looking back at them.

"Well, I would like you to tell me where the head warrior is." he simply told him, Zuko raising a brow with confusion.

"Uh- is this about the Fire Nation attack?" he asked, the guard shaking his head.

"No. We need to speak with her about something else." he simply told the pair, Zuko raising a brow at the mention of 'we', glancing behind the guard to notice two other guards, standing holding their spears.

"Come on, nephew, let's show these men the way there." his uncle directed him, the Prince not refusing, but rather looking at his uncle with a frustrated side-eye; he was suspicious about what exactly the guards needed to speak with Suki about.

As they walked along through the campsite back toward their little corner, he glanced at his uncle, who looked at him with a narrowed glance; he seemed to be feeling the same way he was about the guards, and as they approached their own campsite proper, he caught sight of Nakata, who was sitting by their pot preparing dinner.

"Oh, you two are back. Brought some friends, I see." she acknowledged, the guards stiffening up, looking at each other.

"Is this her?" the leading guard asked, the Prince shaking his head.

"No. She was injured after the fight- she's lying down." he deflected the question, "I'll get her." he assured them, side-eyeing his uncle and Nakata, both of whom seemed to have gotten the jist from his rather serious face.

Walking over to Suki's tent, he pulled the fabric back and noted she was still lying down, the warrior smiling at him happily.

"Oh, you were back quick. Did you get the tea?" she asked, the Prince clearing his throat, knowing that he didn't want to sour her mood, but he had no choice.

"There's three guards outside, and they're asking specifically for you; they've got weapons, so I think this something pretty serious." he explained, the head warriors face turning from a happy grin to one of confusion.

"Wait... you mean- oh no." she mumbled, seemingly having realised something, "Those soldiers a few weeks back- they ran off, didn't they?" she asked, the Prince nodding.

"Uh, yeah. We chased them out of town." he remembered, before his eyes widened, "You don't think..."

"We have to be ready for the possibility." she told him, the Prince nodding; she grabbed a fan from beside her bedroll and slid it behind her belt, hidden from direct view.

The two of them came from the tent, the guards looking at her with suspicion; the leader stepped forward, "You're the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors?" he asked her, to which she nodded.

"Yes, that's me. And you are?" she asked, the guard shaking his head.

"That's not important." he deflected her question, before his eyes narrowed at her and Zuko, "You're needed up at the barracks." he explained, the warrior raising a brow at him.

"Needed at the barracks? Do you need me specifically?" she asked, the guards looking at each other momentarily.

"Yes." he clarified, "They want to see you."

"They?" she furthered, stepping closer; Zuko tried to grasp her wrist, but she pulled her hands forward- their collective stubbornness would surely be the end of them both.

The man looked rather fearful, "Um- I can't say."

"You can't say, or you won't?" the aggravated Prince gritted his teeth, stepping forward, "I've had enough of this walking around the bush. Tell us what you want." he demanded, the guards looking at him aghast, obviously surprised by his angry reaction; a few moments later, the guards pulled their weapons down, ready to use them.

"Fine then, we'll have to take you by force." he acknowledged, Zuko's eyes widening with realisation; Suki was right- or she was close enough that it warranted a reaction like the one he was making, his hands coming together, no weapons in his hands.

She glanced back at him in realisation, seeing the orange embers forming in his fingers; she raised a hand to stop him, "Zuko- don't. I'll handle this."

"Did you do it?" the guard asked her, his voice genuinely curious.

"Does it matter to you?" she glared back with grit teeth; he shook his head, he and his men drawing their spears forward.

"Surrender. The military court will decide your fate." he demanded, the warrior chuckling at him.

"Oh, surrender?" she asked him, looking at he and his comrades forms; Zuko could already tell what she was thinking- Suki was always ready to beat her enemies with as little effort as possible, "We're not surrendering."

"Not surrendering? What a-" the soldier began to scoff, being cut off by a golden fan hitting his head; Suki hadn't moved, and glancing back behind himself he noted Nakata standing out with her katana drawn.

The head warrior snickered, "As I said, we're not surrendering." she reiterated her stance, drawing out her fans to face the other guards, "Now, what do you prefer, to run or get a fan to the head?" she asked them, as Zuko placed his hand on one of his blade hilts, arching his arm over his shoulder, glaring them down intently.

The spear-bearing guards immediately rushed forward, lunging their weapons forward with speed; Suki however, was more than ready for their attack, ducking under it before jamming one of them in the diaphragm before kicking the other in the shin; the first fell back winded while the second yelped in pain, dropping his spear. Seeing that the fight had begun, the Prince drew out one of his swords, quickly striking the second guard in the head to incapacitate him, while Suki swiftly kicked the other man down as he tried to get back up from his near-breathless state.

Suki turned around and glanced at him, "It seems that we can no longer serve at Full Moon Bay." she acknowledged, before glancing at Nakata and Iroh, "You two, pack up as much of our things as you can; we need to get out of here as quickly as possible."

"What about you?" the retired general asked with a worried tone, the head warrior turning to Zuko and curling her lips.

"Me and Zuko are going to cause a distraction, and get the other girls out of here." she simply told them, making the Prince look at her in confusion, as he had no idea what they were going to do.

"Uh- a distraction?" he asked, the warrior smirking before grabbing him by the wrist.

"There's no time to explain! We have to go!" she declared, pulling him along by the wrist as she raced on down through the campsite; Zuko had no idea what she had in mind, but he could trust her above all else to keep the warriors and his uncle safe, and that was enough for him.

* * *

Amari scrunched her fingers on her nose bridge as she tried to keep herself awake; she hadn't been hurt too much when fighting the Fire Nation soldiers, but standing guard duty all evening was not what she had in mind; the refugees funnelled in an orderly fashion, she and Sawa would stop anyone stupid enough to try and walk in without having their passports checked, and other than that, she was quite bored. She and her fellow Kyoshi Warrior passed comments every once in a while, but for the most part, they remained quiet, standing waiting for their duty to be over so they could go enjoy their dinner. The thought of eating rather dry and bland rations for the fiftieth day in a row didn't bring her much hope, but she knew that Iroh would lighten up the meal with a pot of tea and some jovial stories. The old man was a good change for their group- before he had joined them, all she could feel was fear and dread, surviving from one day to the next; their mission was righteous and they were doing good work to help the people of the Earth Kingdom, but in the end, it was the little things like a cup of tea that really made her day.

"To think I would have found more enjoyment out of being a Fire Nation prisoner than doing my job." she sighed with realisation, placing a palm to her cheek; she could hear Sawa snickering at her comment, the warrior glancing back at her with offense, "What's so funny?"

"Oh, well, that's probably the most absurd thing you've ever said... and you say a lot of absurd stuff, Amari." she acknowledged, the warrior snickering at the thought, despite being slightly offended by the comment; she wasn't the 'normal' one, she knew that well enough, and in hindsight, she noted that her comment was quite stupendous.

"But you see my point, don't you?" she asked with a hopeful tone, "Being a prisoner would allow me to study the enemy and make the plot for my escape." she grinned, the other Kyoshi Warrior rolling her eyes.

"You get what you wish for, that's what they say." she mumbled in response, before turning her head to face back toward the line of refugees waiting to have their passports checked, "And you already got your escape, didn't you. We all saw what happened." she reminded her, the grimace on her face showing that she enjoyed her skilled escape far less than she did.

She smirked at her friend, knowing that her skills were something she liked to talk about, "Well then, I would like to see how..." she begun, before she dropped to a mumble, her eyes glancing at something odd in the distance; she could make out a number of guards running in the direction of the campsite, their pace indicating to her that they were worried about something serious, "Huh- what's going on?" she asked her friend, her narrowed her eyes at the same thing she was looking at; as the group of guards disappeared into the camp, Sawa turned back to her with a rather confused glance.

"Uh, I have no idea; maybe someone brought contraband into the campsite." she mused, the warrior nodding along, considering her idea to be quite reasonable.

"Hmph, now that you mention it, there must be someone trafficking things into Ba Sing Se with the refugees." she admitted, scratching her chin in thought; smuggling wasn't something she was unaware of, as she and the Kyoshi Warriors themselves had been smuggled by a fishermen to the mainland, where there was a reasonable chance the Fire Nation might imprison them for being warriors- a threat to their rule.

A few moments later, she made sight of Suki and Zuko running out of the campsite from another end; she immediately put two and two together, glancing to her comrade for a moment, "Um, I think we're going to have to come off duty." she noted with realisation; if her friends were being chased after by the very guards that operated at Full Moon Bay, then there was only one conclusion she could come to- they were screwed.

"Amari! Sawa!" she heard Suki shout out, the two warriors stepping forward to meet the other two, who looked flustered from having speedily ran their way.

"What's going on?" her friend asked their superior, the head warrior sighing with annoyance.

"The past has caught up with us. The Earth Kingdom Army wants to arrest me for killing that soldier a few weeks ago." she admitted, before pointing toward the line of refugees, "We need a distraction to escape Full Moon Bay- let the refugees through." she directed them, Amari looking at her with confusion.

"Did I hear that right? Let the refugees through?" she asked in clarification, considering that the order she was giving her was in direct opposition to the rules that they had been following as guards.

"Precisely- a few hundred refugees storming the ferries is a bigger problem that a few of us." she explained her plan, the two warriors nodding, before Sawa shouted out toward the customs check-point where Esumi was standing on duty.

"Esumi! Get over here!" she called out, the warrior looking over at her with confusion, her eyes widening to see that all the warriors were present bar Nakata.

The other warrior raced over, and looked at them all with confusion, "What's going on? Did something happen?" she asked them, the warriors all nodding along.

"Yes. We need to get out of here. The Army's looking for Suki." Amari drilled down the point, to which she nodded, a smirk curling on her lips.

Glancing back at the customs office, she blew her tongue at the grumpy customs lady who had been verbally abusing the whole group for a few weeks.

"Yeah, that's right! Fuck you!" she grinned at the lady, who looked aghast at the warriors change in disposition, before she turned back to the warriors, "So what's the plan?" she asked, Suki drawing out her fans.

"Beat back any guards that come our way, and let all these kind refugees get on their boats to Ba Sing Se... without passport checks." she smirked, the warrior smiling deviously at her comrades, before glancing at Amari herself.

"Amari, would you like to do the honour?" she asked of her, the warrior lifting her collar with a smug grin.

"I certainly would." she confirmed, stepping past her fellow warriors toward the line of refugees, before shouting out toward the line, "Who wants to get on a boat, right now?!"

The refugees all looked to her with surprise, after which she made an indication with her arms, "Yeah, that's right. Go right on through, we're not stopping you." she told the group, which looked at her with shock for a moment, before quickly breaking from the line they were standing in.

She turned around to face her friends, placing her hands on her hips as the refugees begun to storm on past the gateway that she and Sawa were meant to be guarding, the group tensing up as the crowd rushed past them.

"Good job, now let's get out of here." Suki declared, the group all following her lead to rush back in opposite direction toward the campsite once more, "One little pit-stop first." she raised a finger in consideration; she understood well enough that would be their camp, where all of their supplies had been stored- getting out of Full Moon Bay wouldn't mean much if they had no food, clothes or bedding to go with them.

As they begun to move through the campsite, Amari realised that their plan had a domino effect; groups of refugees were packing up their things and joining the rush through the gateway to get on the ferries. She smirked at the chaos she had caused, and knew that in the end, she had actually done the right thing; the people that were being held up unjustly at Full Moon Bay deserved new lives in Ba Sing Se. As the group neared their camp, they made sight of the guards she had spotted earlier, who looked back at them with shock; glancing past them she saw Iroh and Nakata, who had by themselves been holding off the group of a dozen or so guards.

"Oh spirits, it's them!" one of the guards exclaimed in horror, Amari smirking confidently in seeing their fearful expression.

"That's right, we're the fucking Kyoshi Warriors!" she raised one of her arms into the air before they charged at the guards, accepting that they needed their supplies more than they respected the camaraderie of Full Moon Bay.

She raced toward a guard, who held a spear out ready to strike her; she dodged his attack with ease, before using her fan to strike his weapon out of his hands before retracting it and jabbing him straight in the gut.

"Take that!" she exclaimed, before shoving him down to the ground, ready to take on another opponent

Another of the guards swung a sword at her, forcing her to lean back before catching his blade with her fan; his fearful face was enough to make her chuckle confidently before using her other fan to jab him in the sternum, flinging him to the ground. Before he could swing his sword once more, she stepped down on the blade and kicked it away, before she took a moment to shake her finger at him mockingly. She turned around to face the remaining guards, which had been dealt with by her comrades, Sawa and Esumi taking the most guards down personally; the group glanced amongst themselves as the last guard fell to the ground unconscious.

"Get your things. We have to leave very soon, before they contain the refugees." Suki advised the group, the warriors and two Fire Nation royals nodding in confirmation, all of them rushing over to get their belongings.

Amari quickly came over to her tent, which she realised that with the haste they'd be leaving in, was a non-essential. She quickly grabbed her Kyoshi Warrior uniform, rolling the dress up and putting her armour pieces over the top of her guard's uniform; she was okay with the extra weight, knowing that she would dispel herself of the unnecessary garments once they made it out of Full Moon Bay. Taking her sleeping roll, she wrapped it up before slinging it over her back, and grabbed her small knapsack that had a few extra supplies in it such as herbal medicine, her makeup and some money. The tent and her blue tunic would be the things she had to leave behind, having no need for them; turning to face her fellow warriors, she saw that they had all packed themselves their essentials; Iroh had the least on him, with only a bedroll and a small backpack, while the other Kyoshi Warriors had to carry their armour and uniforms along with them as she did.

"Come on, let's go- now!" Nakata demanded of the group, who all begun to race on forward through the campsite as fast sa their feet could take them; after rushing back through the way they came, the group found themselves at the edge of the campsite, where they could make sight of the gates, where refugees were still swarming through, the guards doing their best to contain the rush of people.

Amari smirked at the sight of words having such a compounding effect, but turned her glance immediately toward the entrance of Full Moon Bay which the group was quickly approaching; two earthbending guards stood awaiting them, clearly confusing by the fast approaching group of 'guards' that they seemed to be.

"What's going on?" one of the guards asked them, Suki stepping forward to try and defuse any conflict.

"The refugees went into full riot. We're- uh- making a break for it." she admitted, the guards looking at each other with confusion.

"Making a break for what?" the other guard asked, Suki shrugging her shoulders, making them look at her suspiciously, unprepared for Zuko and Iroh to simultaneously knock them both out with fireballs to the head; she looked on surprised at their reflexes, approaching the guards to investigate if they were still conscious.

"Uh- did you mean to burn their faces?" she asked in slight confusion, seeing that the faces of the guards were mostly unharmed other than their eyebrows being singed.

"Of course not, we're just trying to escape." Iroh assured her, the warrior nodding before glancing at the stone wall that blocked their entrance.

Suki must have read her mind because at that moment she stepped forward and cleared her throat, "Well, I for one don't want to scale a full wall in my armour- does anyone have a better plan?" she asked, Zuko whacking his uncle on the shoulder.

"Uncle. Now would be the time to use your skills." he suggested, the retired general rather surprised by his selection as the one to deal with the stone wall.

"Oh, me? What exactly do you want me to do- I can't exactly melt the wall- at least not very quickly." he admitted, the Prince rolling his eyes.

"No uncle, blow a hole through it." he corrected, imitating the motion he would make when he shot lightning out of his hands, something she hadn't seen the old man do, and was surprised by the suggestion that he could do the same thing.

"Hmph- well, I ought to give it a try. I advise you all stand back." he warned the group, who all quickly moved themselves backward; they had seen what Zuko could do with lightning, and supposedly Iroh was a pretty good firebender, even if all she had seen him use it for was brewing tea.

A blinding light entered her field of view, forcing Amari to squint and cover her eyes as a thundering boom shook the area; opening her eyes, she saw the result of the retired general's bending prowess- a hole nearly 2 metres wide right through the stone wall. Suki immediately rushed forward and jumped through the hole, making a hand motion to indicate the group to follow. One by one, the group filed through the hole, and within a few moments they were back racing away from Full Moon Bay, out into the badland wilderness that Amari had grown to despise; it wasn't just because of her fear of heights, but the knowledge she had about the Fire Nation's presence there- the warrior was unsure whether it would be better a prisoner of the Fire Nation or of the Earth Kingdom. As they paced forward, she glanced to Zuko and gave him a chuckle, considering how his uncle's skills seemed to be far greater than his own.

"So, when were you going to tell us you were the runt of the family?" she asked him with a smug grin, the Prince's scowl a good enough indication that he had been told something like that in the past.

"Do you desperately want me to set your hair on fire?"

* * *

Dropping her bedroll down onto the ground, Suki tried to catch a breath, her chest heaving almost violently from exhaustion; they had escaped Full Moon Bay, and with it, she had escaped being arrested. She knew that her actions had led to the chaos that unfolded, but she felt no regret for the actions she made that night to save Zuko; that earthbending soldier was going to kill him if she had done nothing. Whether it was just or not, she didn't want to go to prison for actions, and she knew her comrades would protect her from that fate. Her injuries sustained when fighting the Fire Nation soldiers still ached, but that fight was the furthest thing from her mind; they had to keep moving soon enough- the Earth Kingdom Army had obviously sent some men after them, but how quickly they would catch up she had no idea. She unfurled her bedroll before lying down ontop of it, wiping the sweat from her forehead.

"Don't worry guys, I think we're safe now." Nakata assured the group as she sat down to try and prepare a fire.

A few moments later she heard Esumi sigh, "So is that it then? We're fugitives?" she asked, the Fire Nation Prince snickering at her words.

"Oh, welcome to the club." he simply told her, earning a few annoyed glances his way, not that he seemed to care; he did have a point however, as he and his uncle had both been fugitives in the Fire Nation's eyes for months, and the Earth Kingdom would have them imprisoned without a second thought if they knew who they actually were.

"Suki? Are you okay?" she heard Amari ask her, the head warrior glancing up to see her friend standing above her.

"My burns... exhaustion... uh- yeah I'm not really okay." she acknowledged, before lifting her upper body up to form a seated position, looking at her friends for a moment; although some of them were a little worse for wear, the group as a whole was seemingly confident and ready for a fight if one came their way.

Iroh glanced at her with a worried look, "Did you want some tea, dear?" he asked her, the warrior giving him a little smile, reminding that Zuko was going to ask him to make her tea earlier.

"Uh- that'd be great, thanks." she confirmed, to which he gave her a grin, pulling his teapot out and glancing around.

"I'll need to find some water." he noted, Zuko pointing back behind them into the twilight landscape.

"There was a stream just down there, Uncle." he directed, the retired general smiling before getting to his feet, and waving to the group.

"I'll be back in a minute. We can all sit and enjoy a calming brew of jasmine tea." he told them before he quickly paced away trudging downhill toward the stream that Zuko had asked him about.

A few moments later, Nakata cleared her throat, "Um- Zuko, seeing that we're not surrounded by people anymore, would you mind?" she indicated to the prepared pile of twigs and tinder, the Prince sighing, obviously not appreciating the reduction of his role in the group to his utility in creating flames; without a word he sent a small fireball into the tinder, setting it alight in a small explosion, the resulting light-show being quite entrancing.

The girls huddled around the fire as it began to warm the air, Suki remaining on her bedroll, not wanting to get up onto her feet; a few moments later Zuko sat himself down beside her, his face quite concerned.

"S-Suki..." he mumbled, "Do you have any idea where we can go now?" he asked her, to which she mumbled, feeling uncertain as well.

"Not back there." he noted, before glancing his way, "We might be able to cross the Serpent's Pass, but after that there's only really Ba Sing Se." she admitted, the Prince nodding along.

"But we can't go to Ba Sing Se if you're a fugitive- unless we could disguise you and the warriors as refugees." he considered, the head warrior sighing.

"If we go to Ba Sing Se, what good will we be to helping the innocents who are losing their livelihoods. That city doesn't need any more people to protect it, the walls seem to be holding up well enough." she expressed her thoughts, knowing that their work wasn't done just because they reached the capital; the war wasn't over, and she and the warriors needed to play their part, somehow.

"You're right... but I'm worried about Uncle. He can fight, but he's old and he has spent enough time running around; I need to make sure he can be safe." he admitted, the warrior looking at him sympathetically; he would do anything to protect his uncle, the closest thing he had to a father.

"Then maybe you should go to Ba Sing Se." she suggested, the Prince's eyes widening with shock.

Grasping her shoulder looked at her with fear, "I can't leave you." he told her, the warrior shaking her head.

"I didn't want to leave my home. I wish I was still back there, but circumstance means that I was obliged to do this. You are in the same situation, Zuko." she gave him an anecdote, hoping that he would see that she understood what he would be doing by splitting up from the warriors.

"It's not safe out there." he told her bluntly, "My sister, people like the Rough Rhinos- they're all looking for me and Uncle. I think people have connected me with your group- it's only a matter of time before someone comes for you." he told her, the warrior nodding, already having made that conclusion herself; she had decided to serve at Full Moon Bay because it was somewhere they could remain safely without that threat.

"I know that. That's why you should go with your uncle. You don't need to fight this fight." she assured him, "One day you'll be able to return home and take what is rightfully yours, but for now, we need to try and keep our heads down." she explained to him, the Prince sighing with frustration.

"This fight is my fight. The war needs to end." he declared, the warrior grabbing him by the cheek.

"Yes it does. We can't get everything we want, though. Please, just consider what I'm asking." she told him, the banished prince glancing down with a saddened face; she pecked him on the cheek before lying herself down.

He glanced down at her and gave her a nod of assurance, "I'll try and see if there's even a way into the city first. If we can't get in then we'll be stuck together." he told her, the warrior snickering.

"You'd love that wouldn't you." she jested, the Prince shrugging with an aloof smile.

"Well, I hope you feel the same way." he admitted, Suki winking at him, not even giving him a verbal response; that seemed to be enough to improve his mood, the Prince turning around to face the campfire, smiling brightly, something that rare to see on his face.

"I've got the water!" she heard Iroh call out, glancing over to see him having returned from the stream with an already warm pot of tea, "Who wants tea?" he asked out, Amari standing up and looking at him with confusion.

"What kind of question is that? We all want tea!" she raised a fist into the air, the warriors joining in on cheering on the retired general as he came to sit down with them, pulling out some cups for them to drink from.

After a few cups were poured, Zuko handed across her own cup of tea, which she intently smelled, enjoying it's fine aroma before taking a sip; she smiled at him, feeling a little bit of peace in her mind with the warm liquid heating her gut.

"I'd miss this."


	27. The Serpent's Pass

_Opening his eyes, Zuko felt a sense of confusion, standing in a dark hallway with no idea what he was doing; he considered for a moment that he had been sleepwalking, and resigned himself to walk back to his room. Seeing an orange light at the end of the hallway, he began to walk toward it; reaching the corner he saw an ajar door. Thinking that it was his own, he opened the door and was greeted by a blindingly bright light. Covering his eyes, he waited for his eyes to adjust to the light; when they did, he lowered his hands, and realised he wasn't in his room; he was somewhere he had been before, and it was impossible that he was there again. Standing before him was the silhouette of his father, as imposing as he was the day of their actual Agni Kai; the chamber felt exactly the same, with the crowds to either side and the massive draping Fire Nation flag behind his father. A thousand eyes on him at once, but at the same time, none at all; he was having a nightmare, he was certain of it, and he clenched his fists in anger that his mind could contort his own memories into something as horrible as the day he received his scar._

_"Father." he muttered under his breath, Ozai approaching him slowly, "Why am I here again?" he asked, knowing that an imitation of the actual man would have an answer._

_"Why are you here? To fight for your honour." he demanded, the Prince gritting his teeth with anger; he didn't want to experience that pain, that weakness, ever again._

_"Yes." he muttered under his breath, before looking up to his father with a steely glare, "Yes, I will."_

_His father immediately sent a powerful stream of flames his way, Zuko dodging the attack, standing his ground; as his father charged a fire blast in his hand, he stood steady, ready to do what he never could. As the blast was fired out, he used his firebending to cut it in half, leaving his father speechless; not that the Prince expected him to talk, he was a figment of his imagination in the end. Before Ozai charged another fire blast, Zuko made a jab at his feet, forcing his father to step back before he sent a kick at his father; before he could send a wave of fire his way, his father grabbed a hold of his foot, before twisting it and throwing him down to the ground. He gritted his teeth as he winced in pain, even though it didn't hurt as much as he thought it would; because it wasn't real, he reminded himself._

_"You will learn respect." he heard his father declare, Zuko turning to him with a glare of determination; as long as he held breath, he would never experience that shame again._

_As his father charged a fire blast once more, this one the very same as when he had burnt his face, the Prince clenched his fists before opening his right hand; the heat of the flames approached his head, but was stopped immediately by his own flame covered palm pushing his fist out of the way. He pushed at his fathers hand with as much force as he could muster, twisting his hand around and making his arm fly right past Zuko's head; before his father could retaliate, he screamed out to relieve himself of the pain of his injuries, uppercutting his father, who stumbled back, looking rather dazed, but that dazed state was quickly replaced by one of fury. His father sent a volley of powerful fire blasts his way, but he held his stance strong, cutting each blast in half as it neared him; each hit forced him to waste precious breath and weakened his own resolve. He charged flames between his arms before flinging them outward away from his chest, sending a cutting wave of flames toward his father, who cut through it with ease; the Fire Lord glared at him with determination, sending two beams of fire in his direction, which Zuko was forced to deflect with his own streams of fire; being forced back by the pure energy of his father's bending, he realised that he needed to do something before he was knocked awake. Even if the whole battle was a disturbing nightmare, he knew that a part of him wanted what he was experiencing- to prove himself, finally, and show that he wasn't a weakling. In one swift motion he crossed his arms and raised them upward, his stream of flames cutting through his fathers and striking the Fire Lord right in the face; the Prince jumped down to dodge his fathers powerful attack, which dispersed within a few moments as Ozai reeled from the strike. The flames licked his skin, but he knew the imitation of a light burn was nothing to having his eye torched by his father. Glancing up at his father, he saw his face contort into one of rage, which subsided after a few moments as it turned into ruthless confidence._

_"You have lost." he intensely declared to Zuko, spinning his arms around so fast that he had no time to react as an arc of sparks turned into a lightning bolt that filled his field of view._

_As the lightning was about to hit him, his eyes opened wide with shock, and he screamed out in horror, his body rising from his bed; glancing around his room, he touched at his face to make sure he wasn't in another nightmare, and to his relief, he wasn't. He pulled himself up to a seated position and placed his face in his hands, considering what he had just experienced; he had fought his father, and even if he had lost, he knew that fate was still more honourable than what he had actually done. He had been weak-willed, but the Prince swore that he wouldn't be like that again; he couldn't- it would dishonour his title as a Prince, and his oath to his sister. He couldn't protect her own honour if he was an incapable coward; he would not be the spineless bastard Zhao had declared him._

* * *

Standing in front of the imposing gate that stood at the entrance to the Serpent's Pass, Zuko looked on with a grimace, but he knew they had no other choice; to go west would be into the hands of the Fire Nation, where he would have no little sister to back him up and save his arse, and back to Full Moon Bay would mean an Earth Kingdom prison cell as a home, at least until they figured out he was the son of the Fire Lord.

"The Serpent's Pass? I heard that was an extremely treacherous route, so much that those refugees back at Full Moon Bay would sit there rather than try and cross to Ba Sing Se that way." his uncle advised him, the Prince glancing back toward Suki for support, the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors stepping forward confidently.

"This is the only way. If there was a better choice, I would have made it." she simply explained herself, her tense tone showing them all that she was certain it was the only decision they could make.

"That is fair. Do you know how long we will have to walk?" Iroh asked her, the warrior narrowing her eyes, seemingly trying to recall what she had heard.

"A few days at least. We have enough supplies to get us to the Outer Wall of Ba Sing Se." she acknowledged, the oldest member of the group nodding with a sense of relief; at least with an overtly confident leader, they had a rock to hold them together.

The group had already seen their fair share of hardships, and crossing the Serpent's Pass was just another one on a long list of experiences; Zuko, for one, didn't want to add anything more to his list, but he knew well enough that fate wasn't in his favour. Suki's intervention in his attempted murder was a saving grace, but in the end it had come back around to bite them in the arse. Holding his things over his back and his head held high, the Prince did not want to think about all the bad things that had happened to him; he hated the world enough already, and he didn't have any more room in his heart for it- not with someone as bright as Suki to keep him away from it. In a way, she was everything he had wanted to be- a strong, respected and determined leader who could protect their friends and people from injustice. As the group walked through the gates, they made their way along the steep and treacherous path, Zuko not knowing if they would make it out the other side; he knew they had to survive, they had to keep on going- what else could they do? As they made their way up along the path, his uncle came to walk up beside him, looking rather cheerful, or at the very least attempting to seem so.

"Nephew, how are you? I haven't really talked to you since yesterday evening... about your sister." his tone turned rather dark, he nodding with a gulp, considering how he was planning to get Azula onto his side.

"Uh, yeah. I'd prefer not to talk about that again." he admitted, the retired general smiling back at him sympathetically.

"Of course, nephew. You can talk about whatever you like." he assured him, the Prince returning his uncle a small smile.

"Thanks." he mumbled, "Uh, I was wondering... what's your plan?" he asked him bluntly, Iroh raising a brow in interest.

"My plan?" he asked him in clarification, "In life I plan to enjoy myself and maybe open a tea shop. I would enjoy that immensely." he grinned at Zuko, who chuckled at his rather heartwarming answer.

"Y-yeah, uh, I meant more on the short-term. I don't expect you to continue walking around the Earth Kingdom." he simply noted, the retired general scratching at his beard with agreement.

"Yes, that is true, nephew." he confirmed, "I don't know how, but we need to find a place to hide... more permanently." he explained, the Prince now the confused conversation partner; when he said 'permanent' it was as if he really meant he wanted to settle down, and stop running around as a fugitive.

"Where then, Uncle? The world is a big place, and it seems most people either want us in jail cells or dead." he acknowledged their current situation, earning him a little chuckle from his uncle.

"Well that is true. But we can disguise ourselves... I have friends, all around the world." he told Zuko, whose eyes widened with interest.

"People that can help us?" he asked Iroh, who smirked back confidently.

"I have spent my years in retirement doing more things than drinking tea and playing Pai Sho, even if I enjoy both of those things." he explained, pulling out a Pai Sho piece from his robes- a white lotus tile, "This lotus tile represents an organisation that I belong to. I believe they may help us find a place to lay low."

"Well, that's the first good news I've heard in a while." he admitted honestly, "Thanks to you and your... Pai Sho friends?" he asked with an uncertain tone.

"You could call them that." his uncle snickered, making both of them chuckle away at the rather stupid way the Prince had referred to them.

Zuko's eyes widened and his skin paled a few moments after as he realised the implications of what his uncle had just told him; he was hoping that he and his uncle would have no way to find safety, but it seemed that the old man had pulled a little trick out, and in effect had sealed his fate. He placed his hand over his face, realising that now he was certain; he and Suki would have to part ways, even if it was for his own safety; she and the warriors would continue doing what they did best while Zuko and Iroh remained hidden, formulating a plan to return to the Fire Nation. He knew now that he had to find a way to do so quickly; the quicker he figured out how to return, the quicker he could scoop Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors along to assist him in his plans to fix the Fire Nation and end the war. His plans- the ones that didn't even exist, were what he was hinging his relationship upon; he didn't want to think so direly, but he knew that they would grow apart with time if they would forced apart. The banished prince of the Fire Nation didn't want to remain that for another few years- he wanted to make his moves before the comet, before there was a chance for the ultimate damage to be made; the Air Nomads had been annihilated bar the Avatar with the power of Sozin's Comet a century prior, and his gut wrenched in thought of what his father might end up doing with it's power at the end of summer.

His uncle seemed to notice his rather ill look, and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Zuko, are you ill? Was there something in the food?" he asked, the Prince shaking his head before pulling himself up to stand tall.

"Everything's fine uncle." he lied, knowing that nothing was ever fine, especially with him of people; it seemed to Zuko that chaos was his best friend, and it loved to show up at the worst times.

* * *

"Okay, everyone. A short stop for lunch and then we keep walking. Got it?"

Suki didn't want to be too tense and demanding of her girls, but she knew that they ought to keep pace and get through the Serpent's Pass as quickly as possible; their food stores were limited and she was unsure how long it would be before the Earth Kingdom Army decided to chase them up the winding isthmus. The group sat themselves down, unpacking their bags to eat rations and drink from their water skins, and unsurprisingly, Iroh immediately set about brewing a pot of tea; the head warrior sat herself down against a rockface, leaning back to rest her upper body on the surface. She pulled some rations of dried meat out of her bag and chewed on some, knowing that she needed to conserve as much food as possible; she chewed on the meat before swallowing it with a swig from her water skin, mitigating the salty dryness of the food. Zuko sat down beside her, pulling off his own bag to pick out some rations; from the rather averse look on his face, she assumed that he wanted to talk to her.

She was proven right a few moments later when he cleared his throat before greeting her, "Hi- uh- I found out something." he told her, the warrior raising a brow at her.

"Hmph-" she mumbled as she chewed on a bit of dried meat before swallowing it, "what?" she simply asked, the Prince looking out across from them into the wide expanse of the West Lake.

"Uncle has contacts... some people he knows that can help us get places. I think he wants to go to Ba Sing Se." he admitted, the warrior looking at him with a rather bittersweet smile; she felt happy that they would be able to find safety, but she knew that it wasn't going to make either of them happy in the end when they would be split from each other.

"So that's it then. You'll go with him?" she asked, the Prince sighing, placing his hand over his face, almost looking shameful.

"Yes- I have to." he admitted, both of them knowing that he didn't necessarily want to.

"Look at the bright side, at least you'll both be safe, from the Fire Nation, and maybe the Earth Kingdom." she acknowledged, uncertain as to whether the Earth Kingdom Army would make the connection between the vagrant teenager before her and the fugitive Prince Zuko.

"It's hard to see the bright side when you're... well, you're the bright side." he admitted, the Kyoshi Warrior blushing, feeling surprised, in a way happy, by his compliment, "But you're right. We'll be safe." he admitted, before narrowing his eyes in thought, "That's until Azula figures out an ingenious plan to find me, again."

Suki chuckled at his suggestion, raising a finger to her chin, "She couldn't disguise herself as a refugee to get into Ba Sing Se, could she?" she asked, the Prince looking at her with a fearful glance.

"She was able to fake it well enough to fool the camp a few months ago- I'm sure she could increase that to fooling an entire city." he admitted with a grimace, "My sister's scary."

"Yeah, I'm just glad she isn't trying to kill us." the head warrior admitted, before contorting her face in thought, "Well, trying to kill us yet."

Taking another bite from her food, she snickered as Zuko's face became squeamish with fear, obviously going through the scenario of having to deal with his sister again in his head, "Y-yeah. I hope that doesn't happen." he noted, glancing at her once more, "But even without her in the picture, the Earth Kingdom... they might figure me out sooner rather than later." he admitted, touching his scar instinctively.

She cringed at the thought that his scar of all things would continue to haunt him; it was most certainly a very noticeable feature on his face, and she hadn't seen anyone with a mark quite like it, meaning that if anyone had heard about the banished Prince Zuko, they would likely connect the dots.

"I hope that doesn't happen. Maybe you should wear an eye-patch or something to cover it? People won't be looking for a one-eyed refugee." she raised a finger in consideration, the Prince rolling his eyes.

"I don't want to walk around Ba Sing Se looking like a damn pirate." he grumbled, before touching his hair, "But maybe my hair will grow a bit longer, and I can cover it with a fringe." he thought aloud, Suki nodding along.

His hair had certainly grown quite longer since they arrived at Full Moon Bay a few weeks prior, with his hair now becoming messily long, covering his forehead and trickling down his neck; it seemed to grow quite quickly, Suki thinking that when she had accidentally cut it off felt like yesterday to her- or maybe it was just that the memory was so vividly stuck in her mind.

"Yeah, you could do that. Your hair looks kinda cute." she smirked at him, rubbing his scalp playfully; he blushed in response before looking away.

"Yours does too." he admitted, the warrior playing with her shoulder length locks, giving him a smile in response.

"Oh, thanks!" she exaggeratedly responded with a grin, "I take great pride in my hair. Haven't you seen how it perfectly accentuates my headpiece?" she touched the golden ornament that sat above her forehead; he could tell well enough that she was making a joke and laughed along with her- Suki wasn't one to be overly boastful, at least not when it came to things outside of fighting.

Her face became more serious after a few moments, the Kyoshi Warrior placing a firm hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry, Zuko. I'm sure these people that will help your uncle will keep you safe." before her lips curled into a smile, "We won't be apart for that long. Trust me, you'll be regretting wanting me back after a single night of dealing with the girls' antics."

"As much as Amari frustrates me, I doubt that'd happen." he shrugged his shoulders, Suki smiling at him brightly before pecking him on the cheek; when her face moved away, her face had returned to a serious form, glancing down at the uneaten rations in his hands.

"Eat up now. I was serious when I said a quick break."

* * *

"So we're supposed to swim across?"

Zuko gulped fearfully as he glanced at the relatively wide expanse of water that divided their path- Amari's tone of despair was something that he didn't just understand, he agreed with it wholeheartedly; crossing a wide stretch of water like the one before them was going to be challenging, especially considering that the group was carrying all the goods they needed to survive on their backs. He wasn't necessarily the worst swimmer, remembering vividly how he had survived his shipwreck by paddling for his life, but that didn't mean he was eager to jump back in the water.

"I agree with Amari." he heard his uncle comment, "This seems to be quite dangerous." he admitted, seemingly as averse to the idea of swimming as he was.

Suki sighed as she glanced at them, trying to seem as confident as she could given the sitaution, "What can I say- we don't have another choice. Let's just get it over and done with." she told them, the warriors nodding along begrudgingly to her order, before pacing their way along down toward the water's edge.

Iroh glanced back at the Prince before tilting his head toward the water, "Well then, nephew, I guess we have found ourselves it quite the situation."

"Nothing we can do about it, Uncle." he simply told him, "You can swim, right?" he asked his uncle, who nodded back.

"Yes, I can. But I've never found it to be the most enjoyable form of exercise." he acknowledged, before beginning to walk toward the water's edge, following the warriors downhill; he glanced back at Zuko, who was still looking out across the stretch of water they'd have to swim across, "Zuko, are you coming?"

"Uh- yes." he confirmed, shaking his head; he shouldn't get distracted by fear, he should just run head-first into it- that's how he dealt with it for all of his life, and it would be no different at the Serpent's Pass.

Following the group down to the water, he slowly began to wade into the cold lake-water that lapped up his sides as he got deeper. He eventually reached a point where his feet didn't touch any surface and he was forced to begin wading forward, following in a line with the Kyoshi Warriors, who all seemed to be decently competent swimmers- Amari was showing off her skills again, not to any surprise. Zuko felt his wet clothes stick to his skin as he raised his arms out of the water to push himself forward, feeling disgusted by it's touch; it reminded him of when he had first awoken on Kyoshi Island, his destroyed robes damp and smelling like salt water. As the group made their way across the stretch of water, their pace began to slow; it was hard to swim with all the supplies they were carrying, ignoring the fact that the Kyoshi Warriors had to wear their armour as well. The Prince's strokes were consistent and he made sure to keep his breathing in check, knowing that was key to staying calm and conserving energy.

Suddenly, however, he heard the fastest swimmer amongst them yelp with fear, "Ahhh! Guys! Did you feel that! There's something in the water!" she exclaimed, his eyes widening with anxiety; he was already afraid of the water itself without considering the fact something could try and eat him.

A few moments later, a green blur rose out of the water, Zuko turning his head up to glance at it; a massive sea serpent- he had escaped being fed to the Unagi only to be led to be eaten by another sea monster.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" he screamed out in annoyance, throwing a fist filled with fire up at the creature, striking it blank on it's jaw, the serpent screeching in pain.

"Nephew, I don't know if that was the best idea!" Iroh shouted out, lapping through the water fearfully trying to get around the creature which had reoriented itself, looking poised to strike them.

The Kyoshi Warriors swam away from the creature in fear, as he would expect any sane person to, but Zuko was infuriated by it's presence; all that pent up rage he had built from being threatened to be eaten by a sea monster was being let out in a display of firebending. He threw a powerful stream of flames at the creature, using his bending to curl the flames around the creature, constricting them whenever it tried to attack him by launching forward at him; the Prince was not going to let himself fall prey to the serpent, not after all the anxiety he had felt on Kyoshi Island. The beast widened it's jaws and launched down into the water to attack him, who dived into the cold lake water in an attempt to avoid to being bitten; his dodge worked, but the force of the serpent rushing into the water forced him deeper under the water, Zuko clawing up to try and return to the surface. He could feel it sliding around in the water around him, turning around to face it before it could rip him in half; as he saw it moving toward him, he sent flames through his hands, using the air in the water to his advantage as he thrust his body up out of the water. In the air for a few moments, he made sight of the Kyoshi Warriors and his uncle nearly at the other shore, much to his relief; when he struck the water side on, he cringed from the blunt pain coursing down the left side of his body- he was in pain, but at the very least he could keep on swimming. Dragging himself forward, the Prince began to heave his chest, trying to keep control of his breath; it didn't help much when the serpent rose out of the water once more, towering above him, ready to strike.

"Come on! Do it!" he screamed out at the beast, charging flames in his hands, ready to cook the creature alive if need be; he for a moment, considered that if there was anything he could tolerate killing, it was a damn sea serpent.

Before the serpent could pounce on him, his field of view was filled with a blinding light, as suddenly a lightning bolt struck it in the neck, making the creature screech and flay around in pain, falling back into the water; looking behind him, he saw his uncle standing in form by the shoreline, looking rather panicked in his expression as he waved out to Zuko. He continued to paddle forward, but with his left side stinging painfully, he couldn't move it as well, forcing him to rely on one arm and leg to push himself on. He paddled onward for a bit, but he was growing far too tired; using his bending had strained him, and with all the things he was carrying, he was finding it hard to keep on swimming. The shoreline was in his sight, but he couldn't reach it.

Suddenly he heard a familiar voice, "Hey, lover-boy, need a hand?" making Zuko sigh with annoyance; of course it was Amari who had come back to save him, she was the best swimmer in the group after all.

He begrudgingly nodded as she approached him, grabbing his shoulders and dragging him along through the water; eventually however, they reached water that was shallow enough for them to walk in, and they were joined by Iroh who grabbed a hold of his shoulder, looking at him was a face of relief.

"Nephew, I'm glad that you're safe." he exclaimed, the Prince sighing with annoyance.

"Yeah, Uncle. I'm fine, just a little tired, that's all." he admitted, the three of them walking up to the rocky shoreline where the other Kyoshi Warriors were recovering from their ordeal- sitting down and refusing to get up, that was.

Suki's voice called out to him a few moments later, "That was a bit stupidly heroic."

He looked at her with a blush before trying to take a more serious face, "Uh- well, someone needed to deal with it, and Uncle was struggling more than I was with swimming." he explained his actions, the head warrior snickering at him.

"Ah, yes, but I'm sure you love being the hero of the day, don't you?" she asked him, the Prince sighing before giving her a curt nod.

"You are right." he acknowledged, before sitting down on the rocky shoreline, "Now, I'd like to rest." His uncle sat down beside him and chuckled, giving him a hearty grin.

"A man needs his rest."

* * *

"Your highness, we've got a new lead."

Azula raised a brow with interest, being in the middle of eating her lunch with Ty Lee and Mai; she glanced back at the guard and made a hand motion to indicate him to continue speaking, which he did.

"The Blue Spirit fought a group of Fire Nation scouts near the Serpent's Pass about two days ago." the guard explained the message that they had received; the constant flow of intelligence from around the Fire Nation's expansive empire was something that she left to her guards to handle, and she was honestly surprised to have heard the news before her.

"Hmmm, so Zuzu has decided to fight his own people?" she asked, the guard clearing his throat, looking back at the scroll in his hands.

"He was recorded as coming to rescue some prisoners the scouts took. Supposedly they were part of that group of Kyoshi Warriors the Prince is travelling with." the guard clarified, the Princess smirking in thought.

"Oh, so my brother went to save his little girlfriend. How sweet." she chuckled to herself, earning glances from her two friends who sat across from her, Mai especially.

"Excuse me, did you say girlfriend?" she asked in clarification, Ty Lee's eyes widening with realisation.

"You didn't tell her?!" the acrobat exclaimed, Azula raising her hands defensively.

"I thought you would have told her. You were always a blabber-mouth, Ty." she argued, the usually stoic girl looking at them suspiciously.

"You didn't want to tell me, didn't you?" she asked them both, the two girls looking at each other with the same face; they didn't want to bring up Zuko being in a relationship with another girl- not would it only aggravate Mai, it could make her question why she came with them.

"Um... maybe." Ty Lee blurted out, the Princess glaring at her with annoyance- they could have remained silent, but the chirpy acrobat was as honest as ever.

"Azula, you didn't need to keep this from me. I'm not obsessed with your brother." she stressed in a rather calm, monotonous voice, something that made the Princess feel more uncomfortable; she could never read Mai, and this time was no different.

"Well if there is no problem, then we should get ready." she concluded, the two girls looking at her with confusion.

"Get ready for what?" Ty Lee asked her, the Princess standing up from their table.

"To get on the move. We've spent enough time tailing the Avatar. My brother and uncle are the real targets." she stressed, "And now we know where they are." she smirked confidently, knowing that the new intelligence they were provided would give them the opportunity to find Zuko once more.

The Princess turned to her guard and pointed down to the front of the tank-train, "Order the helmsman to start driving to the nearest port on the West Lake." she directed him, the guard nodding before pacing off to alert the helmsman.

Sitting back down with her friends, "Sorry for the interruption, girls. You can finish up your lunches now." she apologised, her friends nodding along rather awkwardly; Azula didn't usually say sorry to anyone, but she knew that she ought to be courteous to her allies.

The Princess picked up her chopsticks and began to chew on her bowl of spicy noodles, something that she was enjoying until her guard rudely interrupted her lunch; she felt somewhat conflicted over revealing Zuko's relationship to Mai, knowing that the truth was eventually going to come out, but it was something that would not help their relationship as well as getting her brother back to their side. She had considered that the stoic and serious girl could actually be used to woo her brother back, even if he had his new little Kyoshi Warrior girlfriend; Azula was well aware of their past together, and with Mai aware of her brother's romance, perhaps she wouldn't be able to use it to her advantage. As per usual, the main goal on her mind was returning her brother to the fold; the Avatar was simply collateral in her plans, and personally, she had no disdain toward the boy and his friends, as long as they continued to remain well away from the Fire Nation. Her brother's treachery was circumstantial, and once the circumstances were altered, he would be begging to return to his father's side, and she would be his reprieve from banishment.

"Wait... so if we're going to the West Lake, how are we going to find Zuko. He's not going to be in the same place for that long, is he?" Ty Lee asked her curiously, the Princess smirking confidently.

"No he won't. I'm assuming he can only go two ways- west toward the colonies or east toward Ba Sing Se; if the presence of the Blue Spirit isn't reported by Fire Nation forces by the time we reach port, we will go the Outer Wall of Ba Sing Se." she explained herself, Mai furrowing a brow at her.

"The Outer Wall? Are you planning to sneak in to the capital of the Earth Kingdom." she asked with a tone of disbelief.

"Well, not exactly. War Minister Qin has announced the construction of a war-machine to finally break the walls of Ba Sing Se, and we will join him in taking down the impenetrable city, once and for all." she declared, clenching a fist confidently.

"Zuko can't hide from me. Not when I conquer the greatest city in the world."


	28. Sundered

_Looking down at his own reflection in the water, Zuko felt a sense of sadness; the place he was sitting by was a place of fond memories of his childhood, and his relationship with his mother, which he craved like nothing else. The Crown Prince of the Fire Nation had everything a child could want, except for that one thing he wanted most- a mother. His father had little care for him or his ordeals, and seemed to be more caught up in his duties as Fire Lord than his responsibilities as a father; he understood well enough that he couldn't ignore those duties, but as he sat alone by the pond, he felt as if no palace or power vested in him could give him what he wanted. He was only accompanied by a few little turtle-ducks that swam around the pond, nibbling on the bits of bread he had thrown into the water; they were oblivious to the world around them, and Zuko cherished them for that. They didn't have to worry about the things he did, and they gave him a sense of calm and peace, despite the sadness of the memories he had in that place. He heard a familiar ruffling noise in the bushes behind him, the Prince reflexively turning around to send a fire ball into the bush behind him, the attack deflected by a hand that reached out of the bush; his sister's smirking face was revealed quickly enough, Azula clapping at his skills, whether mockingly or genuinely he couldn't tell._

_"Brother, you've got a keen sense of hearing." she acknowledged, looking at him with a devious grin, "But you wouldn't want to fall into the pond again- a good Prince always learns from his mistakes." she gave him a token of advice, Zuko shrugging his shoulders in response, turning back to face the water._

_"What are you doing here, Zula?" he simply asked her, the Princess remaining silent for a few moments before she just sat herself down beside him._

_"Can't I spend some quality time with my big brother?" she asked him with a glaringly fake pleading tone, his snickering indicating to her that he saw through her flattery, "You know I can get bored every once in a while?" she asked him rhetorically, the Crown Prince raising a brow in thought before nodding curtly; he was sitting at the pond himself because he had nothing to do._

_"Yeah, I know." he acknowledged, before throwing another piece of bread into the water; he glanced and saw his sister eyeing the bread, pulling it away from her grasp, "No, you don't get to throw the bread. I know what you'll do with it."_

_She gave him an innocent smile, "I can feed the turtle-ducks, Zuzu." before she furrowed a brow at him, "Do you think I can't?" she asked, the Prince snickering at her._

_"Oh, you can feed them." he agreed, before pretending to pelt a piece of bread at a turtle-duck like he was trying to stone it, "But you'd probably give them a big fright; they're afraid of you for a reason."_

_She pounced forward and grabbed the bread from his grasp, before grabbing a few pieces of bread, "I'll prove I can feed them... without scaring them." she declared, the Prince rolling his eyes._

_"Whatever... knock yourself out, Zula." he gave up trying to stop her, rather wanting to see the turtle-ducks nibble at her fingers viciously once she barraged them with bread._

_To his surprise, Azula made a concerted effort to not pelt the little animals, rather throwing the bread underarm softly into the water in a spread formation; the turtle-ducks were still obviously averse to her, but after a few moments they came in and approached the bread, grabbing it in their beaks and swimming away._

_"Huh, that was unexpected." he admitted, his sister smirking back at him confidently._

_"Well, Zuzu, you see I don't need to fight unnecessary opponents. The turtle-ducks don't threaten me." she declared, the Prince looking at her with interest._

_"You've been reading too much military strategy, Zula." he sighed, realising his sister was essentially drawing her worldview from a bunch of dusty old tomes._

_"You can never read enough strategy, Zuzu. How else will I become the greatest conqueror in Fire Nation history?" she asked him, the Prince glancing back at her with concern._

_"You're only eleven, Azula. Why is military strategy so important to you? Shouldn't you be more interested with boys and I don't know, normal eleven-year-old things?" he asked her, unsure as to why his sister was so obsessed with warfare; they had been at war for a hundred years, but it seemed like his little sister loved to forget their father never set foot on the battlefield- he was powerful firebender, but he had lived in the palace his entire life._

_"Because I want to fight for the Fire Nation, brother. I want to be the greatest princess in history!" she declared, raising a fist into the air, making him roll his eyes._

_"Of course, your highness." he mockingly deferred to his sister, who took his slighting with a scowl before smirking._

_"Thank you, brother. I am glad you want to call me by my proper title." she turned his joke around on himself, Zuko simply rolling his eyes in response, standing up from his seated position by the pond._

_"Well then, how are you going to learn, huh? Your tutors are for firebending, not for learning about how to fight in a war." he suggested, the Princess curling her in thought._

_"Thanks, Zuzu. You've just given me a brilliant idea." she declared, holding her hands on her waist confidently; he looked back at her with confusion, scratching his chin._

_"Wait, you actually think I'm right?" he asked with a tone surprise._

_"Yes, brother. You are right, Lo and Li focus far too much on my bending. I'm a prodigy, but firebending hasn't won us the war yet, has it?" she asked him rhetorically, the Prince nodding along with agreement, "So we're going to learn about fighting war. We don't need any silly tutors to do that."_

_"Learn about fighting war? How are we going to do that? Ask Uncle?" he asked, clueless as to what she was actually suggesting they do._

_"No, we're not talking to that fuddy-duddy fool." she rolled her eyes, grasping him by the hand, "Just follow me!"_

_She dragged him along out of the courtyard by the hand, her pace increasing immediately, forcing him to follow behind her in near sprint as she held a tight grasp on his hand; feeling as if his feet were going to fall from underneath him, the Prince screamed out in terror._

_"Azula! Slow down!"_

* * *

Feeling the heat of another person as he lay on his sleeping roll was a feeling that Zuko had come to appreciate. As the morning sun just jutted above the horizon, he had opened his eyes to appreciate the fact he was lying beside Suki, glancing over to her, watching her sleeping face intently; he knew that this would be the last day for some time that he would get to experience seeing her wake up. Part of him found it a bit creepy that he would just sit there watching her, but he felt safe looking at her calm and relaxed features, and the smile that would curl on her face as she awoke to see his own. The Prince simply lay beside her, glancing at her face, watching her eyes twitch as the bright light of the morning sun began to cover their camp, and with it, the light came to her face; she cringed slightly, before her eyes opened, revealing her blue irises that started intently into his gold ones.

Her lips curled into a smile, before she simply greeted him, "Good morning."

Seeing her smile made his heart skip a beat, and he simply pecked her forehead before looking at her with a smile, "I hope it will be." he admitted, his words a reflection of his thoughts on their previous day trekking across the Serpent's Pass, where he had barely avoided getting eaten by a giant sea serpent; the fact he had been with the Kyoshi Warriors when it happened only made it all the more stupendous- weeks of Unagi posturing had led to nothing, but the next open water he swam in was home to a sea monster all the same.

She pulled herself up from the bedroll, covering her eyes with her right hand to block out the morning sun which brightly shone toward them across the East Lake, "We're nearly there." she acknowledged, Zuko nodding, knowing that they were getting close to the end of the Serpent's Pass, where he knew they would be parting ways after months stuck together, for better or worse.

"Yeah... hopefully there's no more swimming involved." he acknowledged, making her chuckle at his suggestion, before patting him on the shoulder sympathetically.

"Sorry, I wasn't as appreciative as I should of been of what you did yesterday; you were really brave trying to stop that serpent." she acknowledged, before he sighed, shaking his head with a sense of regret; his uncle's quick lightning generation was the thing that had saved his life in the end.

"It was also really stupid of me." he admitted, the head warrior grinning back at him.

"That too. You can't have one without the other." she told him, the Prince rolling his eyes; she was right in a way, but he didn't want to admit that every action of bravery he had made, including betraying the Fire Nation on Kyoshi Island was one of stupidity.

He pulled himself up from the bedroll before glancing back toward the campfire, indicating to it with a point, "Did you want some tea?" he asked her, the warrior giving him a surprised look.

"You want to make it? I haven't heard you offer ever since your uncle joined us." she noted, the Prince chuckling, knowing that she pointed out the truth- he wasn't that good at making tea.

"Well, I have good reason. He's very good at making tea." he admitted, before glancing instinctively toward his uncle, who was still seemingly asleep.

After a brief pause, Suki nodded with a little smile on her lips, "Yeah, I'd like some."

He beamed back at her confidently, glad that she would appreciate a little heart-felt tea-brewing, even if it wasn't as good as what his uncle could make; he wanted to make the most of their last morning together- he didn't want to waste a single moment.

Sitting himself down by the embers of the campfire, he placed his hands over them, slowly heating them up until they begun to spark a hot red, near white colour; grabbing his water skin, he drew some of it out into the old teapot that sat ready- it wasn't a joke to say his uncle was always ready to make tea. Sprinkling some of the tea leaves that he had in his own bag, he put the pot over the embers, letting the water slowly heat up; not too soon after he set himself up, Suki sat herself down beside him, sitting by the warmth of the embers. The cool morning sea breeze was a little chilly, though Zuko had no concern for it himself, his bending keeping the air around his skin lukewarm.

"It smells nice." she admitted, the Prince nodding along, thinking back to when he had received the tea leaves he was boiling.

"Does it give you nostalgia?" he asked her, "I got these back the port just off Kyoshi Island." he reminded her, the head warrior sniffing the aroma of the tea once more, a smile forming on her lips.

"It reminds me of home." she admitted, Zuko smiling as he thought back to his time on the island.

"Yeah, it does." he admitted, his eyes opening wide, realising that he had just referred to Kyoshi Island as home, "Uh- I mean it reminds me of the island." he clarified, the warrior chuckling at his correction.

"You're always welcome on Kyoshi, Zuko. After what you did fighting off Zhao and his goons, you deserve it." she admitted, the Prince glancing down at the embers.

After a few moments silence, he decided to ask the only question he could form after his slip up, "Is it bad that I feel like Kyoshi Island is more of a home to me than the palace I grew up in?" he asked her, the warrior shrugging her shoulders.

"I don't know." she honestly told him, "You haven't been there for three years, and after what happened to you, I wouldn't feel at home there either."

He instinctively touched his scar before nodding, "Y-yeah... but I have to return there someday."

She smirked right back at him, "Yeah, how else are you going to be Fire Lord?"

"That's true." he acknowledged, before chuckling under his breath, "It's weird... I'm actually glad that shipwreck happened, in the end."

"Glad? You nearly drowned and probably would have been eaten by the Unagi if it weren't for pure luck." she noted with a tone of confusion.

He pulled the tea-pot from the embers, pouring her a cup before making one for himself, "Yes. But that shipwreck, and everything after it... I learned a lesson. Much more than..." he fell silent, not wanting to finish his own sentence.

What his father had done to him seemed more wrong to him every day since it passed; it was only when Suki finally forced him to decide that he finally accepted the truth. His father was wrong and he would one day learn how wrong he was; Zuko was sure of it, knowing that his determination could be used for something far greater than hunting down the Avatar.

His rather distraught face made Suki grab a hold of his shoulder, her hands warm on his skin, "It's okay, Zuko. You're not there."

She knew well enough what had happened to the Prince, and her caring touch soothed his aching soul; he didn't want to feel the pain of his punishment anymore, but it continued to haunt him, like the spirit of a fallen foe. His punishment however, didn't weigh too much of his own present idea of self, in the end. The banished prince who wanted to capture the Avatar, for better or for worse, had drowned at sea, and someone else came out of the water; if Zhao could see what he had become, he would surely regret what he created.

"You're right." he agreed, his face turning into one of determination, "I'll never be there again." before he quickly drunk from his tea cup, wanting to calm himself down.

The taste of the tea reminded him of his time on Kyoshi Island, making him smile for a moment before he remembered all the times he had to clean the floor of the Warrior's dojo and carry wood around the village; he felt that as time went on, his image of the place he had called home for over a month was always little nicer.

"Thanks for the tea." she admitted, "It was actually pretty nice."

Her compliment made him smile, glad that he was able to make a decent cup of tea, "Uh- yeah, I'm just relieved it was palatable." he acknowledged, making her snicker.

"Don't worry, we're far past you being unable to make tea." she reminded him, the Prince shuddering in thought of the disgusting first brew he had made the Kyoshi Warriors.

Finishing his own cup he wiped the wetness from his lips, "Should we start to get ready? I want to get out of this rocky hell-hole as soon as possible." he admitted with a tone of urgency; even if he didn't want to part ways with Suki, he certainly wanted to put the Serpent's Pass behind him.

"Yes. I'll wake the girls up and get my bags ready. Maybe you should check on your Uncle?" she asked, Zuko glancing back toward the older man, who lay with his back toward the morning sun.

"Uh, yeah." he nodded before standing up and walking over to his uncle, where he knelt over beside him.

The Prince placed a hand on his uncle's shoulder, wanting to shake him awake, only to realise that he was already well and truly conscious, turning around to glance at him with a warm smile, "Good morning, nephew."

"Uh- hi, Uncle." he simply greeted him, before narrowing his glance at him, "Did you just wake up?"

"No, I've been lying here for a while now, but I didn't want to get up and interrupt you and Suki. You seemed to be having quite a serious conversation." he acknowledged, Zuko gulping in fear.

"W-wait, you were listening? I thought you were asleep..." he mumbled with concern, feeling embarrassed that his uncle could have been listening to his whole, explicitly private conversation with Suki.

Iroh snickered before grinning at him, "Oh, nephew, did you forget? All firebenders rise with the sun." he reminded him, "I'm glad that you can talk to Suki so openly... and that you can make tea."

"Uh- yeah, I picked it up after I got shipwrecked- you weren't around to make it for me." he acknowledged, the retired general looking at him with near excitement.

"You've made me a proud uncle, Zuko."

* * *

Their trek was finally over, and Suki was feeling both relieved and worried at the same time; they were safely on the north side of the two great lakes, and with that, finally within a spitting distance of Ba Sing Se. As they had walked down the final stretch of the pass, she could make out the top of the Outer Wall straddling the horizon, its size already apparent at such a far distance; despite having completed the most arduous part of their journey away from Full Moon Bay, she knew that the biggest struggle would be the farewells that she would have to experience. Zuko didn't want to leave, she knew that well enough, but protecting his uncle was something he couldn't ignore; neither could she and the warriors settle down in Ba Sing Se for a while, abandoning their duty to protect and help the innocents of the Earth Kingdom. As the group took set down for a lunch break, she knew that it would be the last time she would be with the banished prince for quite some time; she didn't know how long it would be until the two Fire Nation royals figured out their plans to return to the Fire Nation, but she assumed that it wouldn't appear out of thin air.

"Suki, were we going to cook some actual food?" she heard Amari ask out, the head warrior peering up from her bags, which she was sorting through at that very moment.

"Uh, we may as well. We're safe here." she acknowledged, the other Kyoshi Warrior smiling, grabbing out a bag of rice and a small pot from her supplies.

Suki stood up and glanced around, noticing that the warriors were gathering around a small camp-fire that Iroh had set alight, ready to make them all some tea; she walked over and sat alongside them, the group putting various bits of meat and vegetables into Amari's pot as she readied it.

"Ooh, this is going to be good." Sawa grinned as she put a few bits of meat into the pot, Esumi grabbing her friends on the shoulders.

"Yeah, it's been a while since we've had some good food." she noted, the head warrior nodding along.

"Well, of course it has. We've been running for our lives for the past three days." she observed their rather frustrating situation, which ultimately she was at fault for.

Nakata sighed, rubbing the scratch marks she had on her face, "Yeah, it's been a tough week. First the Fire Nation scouts, then those guards, and then a fucking sea serpent."

"Just like the Unagi, but even scarier." Amari raised a finger, Zuko scoffing at her comment.

"Well, you didn't see it coming, did you?" he asked her, to which she raised a brow in thought.

"In hindsight, it is called the 'Serpent's Pass'." she stressed, the group laughing at her realisation.

"Why did you think everyone was afraid of it?" the Prince asked her, "No offense, but I'm pretty sure Earth Kingdom people aren't afraid of a little rocky cliff-face." he mocked her, the warrior clenching her fists, standing up from preparing the pot.

"You bastard... don't you dare." she gritted her teeth, looking as if she was ready to pounce on him; Suki knew that her fear of heights was a soft underbelly, something that she knew Zuko would make use of eventually.

"Amari! Stop it right now!" she demanded of her subordinate, who rolled her eyes with frustration before sitting herself back down, putting the pot over the embers of the camp-fire.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Nakata decided to break the ice, "Well, at the very least, there's no chance we can have a worse week than this."

"That's true." Sawa acknowledged, "How could anything top it?"

Iroh cleared his throat, giving the group a rather serious look "I would say you shouldn't tempt fate. It has a way of biting back."

Zuko grabbed his tea-cup and lifted it up, "Yeah, I can tell you he's right, from experience."

"I'm always right, nephew." the retired general grinned, making his nephew fluster in embarrassment.

"Fate has a way of being an arsehole, it seems." Amari mumbled as she stirred the pot, earning her a few snickers from the warriors, who silently agreed with her sentiment.

"That's not the words I would use, Amari." Iroh acknowledged, before chuckling, "But you're not wrong."

Suki glanced across at him, noting the sadness in his eyes, and looking across to his nephew, whose face had turned rather tense, she assumed that there was a story behind his words, one that they shouldn't hear; they didn't know him that well, and she didn't want to ask him things that might make him uncomfortable- he was really nice, after all.

After a few moments of silence, Amari cleared her throat and sniffed at the pot, smiling at the group, "It seems our lunch is ready." she told them; leaning forward to look at the food they'd be eating, the head warrior raised a brow with interest- it was a mix of rice, water, dried meat and some vegetables.

"It smells delicious." Iroh exclaimed, grabbing out some bowls for them to use, handing them to the warrior one after one, as she filled them with the mixture, handing them out to each of the group members.

The leader of the Kyoshi Warriors got her meal last, being the closest to Amari, and sniffed at the bowl, appreciating the decent smell before she begun to pick at the mixture with a pair of chopsticks; the meat was nice and soft, as were the vegetables, the food practically dissolving in her mouth. She smiled warmly as she appreciated the moment of bliss in eating a fine meal with friends; her smile was bittersweet in the end, knowing that it would be their last meal as a group before the two Fire Nation royals parted ways with them. Suki looked to Zuko, who almost forced a smile to his lips as their eyes caught each other; she was unsure if he was smiling in assurance or just because he enjoyed the meal, but it didn't matter. The fact that he seemed happy was good enough for her; she knew what he was like when he first washed up on Kyoshi Island- she didn't want him to be like that again.

"Is it good?" Amari asked her with a hopeful smile, the head warrior patting her on the shoulder, a tear dropping down her cheek.

"It's great." she assured him, the warrior looking at her with confusion, obviously having seen the watering of her eyes.

"S-Suki? Are you okay?" she asked, concerned as any friend would be when they saw another look as if they were about to break down crying.

"I'm fine. Everything's fine." she assured her friend, before she turned to eat more of her meal, trying to keep her face down; she didn't want Amari to look at her face, not when she was tearing up.

She didn't want to be sad; she guessed no one ever did, but that didn't change the reality of the situation. Their journey together, however long, arduous and annoying it might have been, was over, and she was crying because of it; Suki was meant to be the tough warrior who would lead her comrades across the Earth Kingdom with unwavering determination, not someone who would cry over something like a boy. However, she was crying, and she admitted to herself that she wasn't ashamed to be doing it; despite that, she didn't want to make her friends uncomfortable, or worse, make Zuko feel any more guilty about leaving than he already was. Enjoying the meal as best she could, she focused on eating it, wiping the tears from her cheeks and hoping that her eyes would look a bit better before she'd have to talk to anyone again; she could appreciate Amari's cooking for a few minutes before she had to face the reality of their parting.

After consuming the contents of the old wooden bowl, she wiped her lips before turning to smile to her friend, knowing that she deserved some respect for having made them a decent lunch, "Thanks, Amari. You're not half bad at cooking." she chuckled, the other warrior looking back at her with a grin, obviously glad that someone was appreciating her cooking.

After she complimented the meal, a plethora of thanks and gracious comments came the warrior's way, Amari leaning back to simply enjoy the onslaught of respect.

"Don't worry, I can make you lunch tomorrow, girls." she acknowledged, before glancing at her superior, "But if I do... can I get off some of the chores?" she asked, the head warrior looking back her friend with interest.

"What, like hunting?" she questioned, the Kyoshi Warrior nodding with hopeful eyes.

"Yeah, that'd be fair, wouldn't it?" she asked her as if it was a rhetorical question; the head warrior rolled her eyes before tilting her head forward, sighing as she accepted her friends proposal.

"You're right." she agreed, to which her friend raised a fist in the air confidently.

"Oh yeah! I'm going make the best stews you've ever seen, trust me!" she declared, making the whole group break down laughing at her overly enthusiastic attitude; Suki wiped the tears from her cheeks, hoping that the group thought they were from laughter.

"We believe you."

* * *

Holding his bags over his shoulders, Zuko looked back at the Kyoshi Warriors, glancing at their faces intently; it was the last time he would see them for a while, and he had no idea how long it would be until he saw them again. Suki's eyes and his were locked for a moment, her reds a pinkish hue; he realised that she must have been crying at some point, and it made his gut wretch at the thought. He was to blame, even if their wants and desires had divided them; she wanted to be a warrior, and he wanted to be a good nephew; they understood each other well enough, and that only made it sadder. He felt no regret killing someone from his own nation because he didn't know that man- his life, his loves, his regrets- Zuko knew nothing about him; on the contrary, he knew a lot about her- not everything, but enough to know that when he left her, all he could think of was what she had shared with him.

"Nephew, are you ready?" he heard his uncle's familiar, caring voice; he caught eyes with the old man before nodding; he would never really be ready, but he had to take the first step.

"Y-yes." he stammered, unsure if he really wanted to confirm his uncle's question; he took two steps forward before, grabbing his uncle on the shoulder, stopping him from moving forward, "You go ahead for a minute... I need to- uh- have a talk."

Iroh glanced back at him for a moment before smiling, giving the Kyoshi Warriors a wave before walking on forward, "Of course, nephew, I'll be waiting up ahead."

Before he could turn around to face Suki, she had already grabbed a hold of his shoulder, looking at him with a rather stern face, making him feel rather awkward; as he tried to think of something to say, she beat him to it, "So, you're just going to leave?" she asked him, the Prince shaking his head.

"No- I- uh- I need to-" he begun to explain himself before his head was pulled forward and she kissed him on the lips, his eyes opening wide in realising what was happening; for a moment he thought that she was angry at him, but he understood what she really wanted- a final moment together, something that they could remember.

Their lips held against each other's for a few moments, Suki grasping his hair tightly to hold their embrace; her other hand was holding his back, pulling his body close to her own. The clothes between them didn't stop him from feeling her warmth; his firebending made him rather attune to the warmth another human body gave off, and being enveloped by hers made his lips curl warmly as their embrace came to an end.

"Thanks." he simply told her, before he decided that he didn't have any better way to respond to her embrace, "I love you."

Her eyes widened at hearing the words, before she simply pecked him on the cheek, "I love you too, Zuko."

He scratched his head, feeling slightly embarrassed to have made out in front of the Kyoshi Warriors, who were looking on with shock at their display, "Uh- that was a little unexpected, honestly."

She looked up at him with a bittersweet smile, "Well, I could have cried instead, but I think that was much better."

He gave her a smile in recompense, feeling the same sense of sadness that he could see in her eyes, "I do too."

Feeling that it was all he could do, he leaned in and hugged her, who accepted the embrace, tightly clenching on at the fabric on his back; he had only felt this sad to leave someone once before, and that time, it wasn't him doing the leaving. His relationship with his mother and his relationship with Suki were completely different, but they held the same magnitude in his heart; even if he had only known her for a few months, she was a beacon of light in his life, something he had never expected to find when he had washed up on Kyoshi Island.

"I guess this is goodbye." he acknowledged, the Kyoshi Warrior looking up at him with a sad face, touching his scarred cheek softly.

"This isn't forever." she stressed, "You know that."

He smiled back at her before kissing her briefly on the lips for a moment; as he realised, she placed a hand on his chest, indicating with to Iroh who stood in the distance patiently awaiting him, "I think your uncle's going to have something to say."

"I know he will." he agreed, before smiling back at her, "Good luck, it isn't safe out there."

She confidently placed her hands on her waist, "I'm the toughest there is. I should be worrying about you- Prince of the Fire Nation who's trying to get into Ba Sing Se." she acknowledged, Zuko glancing back at his uncle momentarily.

"I'm sure we'll be fine, as long as my Uncle's associates are as good as he says they are."

She chuckled before indicating for him to get moving, "Yes, I'm sure he's right. Your uncle's the most trustworthy person I know." she admitted, making the Prince smirk back at her.

"He's a good man. I hope to be as good as him one day." he told her, before looking at her rather seriously, "Never tell him I told that. I still want to keep some of my dignity." he stressed, Suki giving him a thumbs up.

"Don't worry. I can keep your secret." she confirmed; knowing that he needed to leave, there was one last thing he needed to do.

"Suki, I need you to take care of something for me." he asked of her, the head warrior's eyes opening wide upon hearing his suggestive words.

"What is it?" she asked curiously, the Prince reaching back to his belt before pulling off the ceremonial dagger that he held dear.

"Take it. You deserve it more than I do." he assured her, the warrior shaking her head, seemingly shocked by his proposal.

"Z-Zuko, I can't take this." she tried to refuse, to which he shook his head in response, closing the gap between them, holding the dagger up against her chest plate, where he thought her heart to be.

"I need you to take this, please." he asked her, almost pleadingly; she looked at him with a conflicted glance for a moment before nodding, grasping the hilt of the dagger.

He let go of it, and she took it to hoist on her belt, "Okay, I'll take care of it for you. But you better take it back when we see each other again. This is your catchphrase." she tapped on the covered blade, both of them knowing exactly which words she was referring to.

"Thank you. I hope you don't have to use it." he admitted, the warrior crossing her arms confidently.

"At least I know how to." she admitted, before tilting her head to the side, seemingly glancing behind him, "You should probably go with your uncle now, he's going to get impatient."

"If there's one thing my uncle is, it's patient. He had to deal with an angsty teen stuck on a boat for three years." he acknowledged, making her snicker, before she leaned in to kiss him on the cheek; after a short peck she pushed him onward, forcing him to step back.

"Now go on, you can't keep giving me those puppy-dog eyes." she declared the Prince raising a brow with confusion.

"Uh- 'puppy-dog eyes'?" he asked her, the warrior rolling her eyes before stepping back.

"You know what I'm talking about cutie." she mocked him as she walked away, the Prince clenching his fists; as much as he liked her affection, he did not appreciate being called cute.

"You're the cute one. Not me." he stressed, before he turned his heels and began to walk away, both of them giving each other waves and smiles, still holding eye-contact until each other them reached their respective groups.

Turning to face his uncle, who looked at him with a giddy smile, he sighed, still feeling sorrowful about having to part ways with Suki, "Well, Uncle, this is it- we're going to be on our own for now."

"I'm proud of you, nephew." Iroh simply admitted, before patting him on the shoulder, leading him along as they began to walk down the dry and desolate path toward Ba Sing Se, "Let's find a nice tavern and some beds for the night. I haven't seen a proper bed in months." he asked his nephew, he simply smiled back at him, feeling at peace with his departure.

"That'd be nice, Uncle."


	29. Walls, Books and Smoke

_"Brother, you can't just sit around in your room all day. It's unhealthy."_

_Her brother's steely glare that she received in returned told Azula well enough- Zuko didn't want to leave his room; she had nothing to do, and having nothing to do, she was going through her list of things to she could do- annoying her brother, or as she would rather call it, sibling bonding, was at the top of her list._

_"I can. This book is more interesting than whatever else I could be doing." he refuted her, glancing back down to look at the book in his lap._

_She stepped inside the doorway, placing her hand on one of the posts of his bed, leaning on it as she looked at him with a disappointed glance, "Come on, Zuzu, you know there's better things to do around here." she smirked at him, to which he simply looked back up at her, seemingly more annoyed than interested in what she had to say._

_"Like what? Beating each other up?" he asked her sarcastically, making her snicker pointing a finger at him confidently._

_"That's not what I had in mind, but your plan is just as good as mine." she declared, relishing in the trap her brother had spoken himself into._

_"I wasn't be serious." he rolled his eyes, "What did you want to do?"_

_"Glad you asked. I heard that Uncle's coming back today." she grinned, Zuko's eyes widening with realisation._

_"W-wait, Uncle's back? Where has he been this entire time?" he asked her, to which she shrugged her shoulders; her uncle had been essentially missing for a whole year since his defeat in Ba Sing Se, and according to the generals she eavesdropped on, he had returned to his country, and sought to seek an audience with his brother, the Fire Lord._

_"I have no idea, Zuzu, but that's why I'm asking you to come." she explained, before smirking, "We might get to see an Agni Kai." she mused, her brother stepping up from his bed, putting his book down._

_"An Agni Kai? You can't be serious." he asked her with a tone of disbelief._

_"Uh, duh, isn't it obvious. Father took his birthright, remember?" she rolled her eyes, "You're really thick in head some times, Zuzu."_

_He clenched his fists as his face turned red with frustration, "I'm not stupid!" he shouted, before he tried to calm himself, purposefully lowering his voice, "I just want to forget that day."_

_She looked at him awkwardly, unsure how to respond; the day their mother left wasn't overly dramatic in her eyes, but her grandfather's coincidental death made her naturally curious._

_"Well, I'm sorry-not-sorry, Zuzu, we're going to see what happens, no matter if you like it or not." she declared, grabbing his hand and dragging him forcefully out of his room._

_"Hey!" he shouted out, the Princess's grip on his hand remaining firm as she pulled him from his dark quarters out into the hallway; it didn't take much more dragging to get him to more willingly follow her, and soon enough they were on their way, walking down the hallways toward the throne room where their uncle would be received._

_"Zula... are you sure this is a good idea, what if we get spotted?" he asked her, the Princess scoffing at his suggestion._

_"I'm Princess Azula, I never get caught." she dismissed his suggestion, not lessening her pace as they made their way to a side-entrance into the throne room, the Princess looking at the two Imperial Guards who stood before them, looking somewhat confused by the appearance of the royal siblings._

_"Uh- your highnesses, what are you doing?" one of the guards asked them, Azula pointing toward the door they were standing in front of._

_"Going into the throne room. Don't worry, we're not going to play with father's flames, if that's what you were thinking." she assured him, the two guards looking at each other, visibly confused, before the other cleared his throat._

_"Um- I'm unsure if you two are allowed in here." he clarified, the Princess pointing toward them with an accusing finger._

_"You don't want to stop me. Trust me, I can make your world a living hell." she stressed, the guards immediately stepping out of the way, to Zuko's surprise._

_"Wh-what just happened?" he mumbled, Azula smirking at him before grabbing a hold of his hand once more._

_"Nothing, Zuzu. Let's just go in." she assured him, knowing that he would be best to ignore her tactics; she was still intending to put them to good use on him one day._

_They entered the throne room, immediately spotting their father's massive wall of flames, created by his own firebending; his silhouette remained steady, and didn't seem to notice their quick entrance. The Princess led her brother over to a pillar, where they stood behind it, intently awaiting to see what would happen._

_"Uh- Azula, what are-" her brother began to ask her, the Princess hushing him as she heard the doors open behind them._

_"It's happening." she told him in a whisper, pointing behind them to note their uncle's arrival; Iroh was wearing a heavy cloak and he looked rather tired, although she was unsure if it was just the lighting that was making him look old and dishevelled._

_Watching him walk down through the throne room toward their father, her eyes brightened up, considering all the possibilities of what could happen; their father's actions, however reasonable, were still a great insult to their uncle's honour, the man who should have been Fire Lord. He wasn't looking to be any kind of man who could run a nation, let alone be the formidable Dragon of the West that he was hyped up to be; Azula thought for a moment that he could have a chance to redeem himself- the old general fighting her father wasn't something she considered to be in her own interests, but it was the honourable thing for him to do. As Iroh stood before the Fire Lord, she watched intently as he silently remained in position glancing up at his brother; she clenched her fists in anticipation, Zuko looking as intently as she was. A moment later, he fell down to his knees and bowed before his brother, effectively surrendering his right to the throne; she was disgusted by the utter weakness and lack of resolve he showed and looked away as her father responded to this act of deference._

_"Have you come to pay your respects to the Fire Lord, brother?" she heard her father's chilling voice ask him, glancing back to catch her uncle's response._

_"Yes, your majesty." he simply responded, making Azula spit down onto the gleaming floor of the throne room; her uncle was a coward, and was so weak-willed that he called her father as if he was a peasant._

_"Brother, I welcome you back to the Fire Nation. Please, feel free to return to your quarters. They are as you left them." Ozai simply told him, "My condolences to your loss, I remember father was quite distraught when he heard the news of Lu Ten's passing."_

_Her father's act didn't surprise her, but the nearly condescending way he spoke of their cousins death made her eyes widen; her uncle needed to respond to that- he couldn't remain silent to such insult._

_"I have returned because I am at peace with my loss." he simply responded, "I only hope to serve you as best I can, Fire Lord Ozai." he conceded, Azula stepping away to stand behind the pillar; her father was the Fire Lord, without doubt, and her uncle was never going to take the throne from him._

_"He's a coward." she mumbled, Zuko placing a hand on her shoulder._

_"His only son died. A father without his son- he lost everything." he simply told her, his tone almost wistful; he was probably begging that father would be as loving to him as their uncle was to their cousin._

_"He's still a coward, Zuzu." she told him, beginning to walk along the pillars toward the door which they had entered through, "Let's go brother, there's nothing else to see here."_

_"Zula, wait up." he reached out a hand, grabbing her shoulder; the Princess glared back at him, feeling as if she should have told her brother something more productive._

_"Promise me you'll never be that weak brother. When the opportunity arises, strike with no mercy." she asked him, the Prince looking back to their uncle in his pitiful state before nodding at her with a rather serious glare._

_"If have to defend my honour, I will, Zula."_

* * *

Opening the front door of the tavern, Zuko felt the warmth emanating from it's interior; a smile curled on his lips, and glancing to face his uncle, he saw a similar look. It seemed after all the walking they did, the duo were going to get those beds they were waiting for. As they stepped into the tavern, they noted it was full of refugees, just like the last one they were in; to his relief, he and his uncle might be the only one's there with enough money to afford a room for the night. The benefit of being fake refugees was that they actually didn't have to worry about money- at least not until his uncle's swathe of funds ran out. He noted that he actually hadn't asked him where he got the money from, but he guessed at that point he'd be better off not asking.

"Nephew, we're finally here." he acknowledged, before glancing at the line at the counter, "Perhaps we shouldn't get food from here."

The Prince nodded, tapping his bag of supplies, "We have enough rations. Let's just rent a room." he suggested, his uncle smiling back at him before walking over toward the counter.

"Excuse me, where do I go to hire a room?" Iroh asked a bartender, the man looking at them with confusion.

"Trust me, you can't afford a room." the bartender simply told them, before Iroh pulled out a few gold coins.

"No, we can." he stressed, the bartender's eyes widening upon seeing the high value coins in his hand.

"Oh, okay. Got some hotshots here, do we?" he asked, the retired general laughing off the comments, while the Prince could only scoff in frustration, refusing to respond to the man's words; after a few moments he chuckled before indicating for them to hand over some money, "Well then, give me five gold pieces, that'll be enough for a night- two beds?" he asked them in clarification, the two of them nodding in agreement; they didn't want to share- they were both grown men.

Iroh exchanged the money for a key, the man indicating to a staircase that was just to the left of them, "Your room is the first on the right." he simply directed, "Feel feel to buy some food and drinks. We have a lot of food here because of all the refugees." he explained, Zuko grabbing his uncle by the arm to ensure they didn't buy any food needlessly.

"No thank you, we have our own." he stressed to the bartender before they walked over to the staircase.

Walking their way up the staircase, Zuko found it to be relatively challenging with all the supplies he was carrying on top of his two katana blades, which were disguised behind his bags to ensure he didn't arose suspicion; he didn't need the weapons as per se, but they were a better choice to use instead of firebending in public. His uncle trudged on behind him, carrying even more bags that he did; his uncle had quite a lot of things on him for a homeless drifter, but then again he knew him to be quite the hoarder.

As he reached the top of the staircase, he glanced back down at his uncle, who wasn't even half way up, "Are you okay, Uncle?" he asked in clarification, the retired general nodding.

"Of course, nephew. I'm just a little tired after a long days walk." he admitted, Zuko soundly agreeing with the sentiment; even if his emotional distraught over leaving Suki was weighing on him more than his supplies, he knew that the physical strain of crossing the Serpent's Pass as hastily as they did was exhausting.

"Well then, maybe we should have some tea." he suggested, his uncle clasping him on the shoulder as he reached the top of the staircase.

"A brilliant idea, nephew." he declared, before stepping forward to open the door of their room; as he unlocked it, Zuko stepped through and checked out their relatively quaint accommodation.

It was a room with only two beds, a small table with two seats to sit upon and a window that looked out toward the East Lake; he appreciated the view for a few moments, before he laid his bags onto the ground next to one of the beds.

"Finally." he breathed out, relieved that he would be able to rest, touching the mattress of the bed to smile at the softness he felt, "I've felt better, but this'll do." he accepted their marginally better situation, flopping down onto the bed.

"You look more relaxed already." his uncle noted, making him chuckle.

"A little. But that's what we have tea for." he acknowledged, leaning up to look in interest, "Jasmine?" he asked, the retired general nodding, pulling out his teapot.

"Yes, we'll be having the finest jasmine tea I can brew." Iroh explained, to which he simply smiled, walking over to sit on one of the old seats in the room; his uncle sat beside him on the other seat, and poured some water into his teapot from his water-skin.

As his uncle began to boil the water in the pot, Zuko leaned back into the chair, trying to relax himself after a long days walk; to his frustration, all that his mind could fall into was thinking about their departure from the group, and his farewells to Suki. Not that he didn't feel happy with how they parted, but he felt conflicted about leaving in the first place; realising this, he cleared his throat and decided to make conversation with his uncle.

"So, Uncle, how are we going to find your friends? These Pai Sho players." he questioned him, to which the retired general pulled at his beard in thought.

"Well, I'm unsure exactly where we will find them, but it's likely that there are some associates in this port town, somewhere. This is the hub for people trying to get into Ba Sing Se, if it weren't for the war this would be a booming hub of commerce." he explained, glancing out the window, "Tomorrow morning we will go look for them; I know the signs of their presence quite well now- they show it in the most subtle of ways."

"Uncle, this organisation, they're not just Fire Nation, are they?" his nephew asked in response, Iroh shaking his head.

"No, people from all across the four nations can appreciate Pai Sho. It can unify us, just like tea." he smiled, indicating to the teapot he was boiling in his hands.

"Well, I hope they are as helpful as you think they are. I feel that we're two steps away from being thrown in a Earth Kingdom prison." he acknowledged, "Those army officials who were looking for Suki are probably looking for us too, so we're going to need to find a way to disguise ourselves." he acknowledged, the retired general chuckling.

"In a crowd of refugees, it's quite hard to find anyone." he stressed, the Prince raising a hand to his chin in thought.

"That's right. I guess that was your tactic when you were on the run from the Fire Nation." he concluded, Iroh nodding in confirmation, "How are we going to make a living though? You have a bit of money, but it won't last that long, especially when we're not being paid the measly wages of Earth Kingdom guards."

"I have quite a saleable skill, nephew. Tea-making is more appreciated than you might think." he explained his idea, Zuko smirking at him.

"Trust me, Uncle. I understand the power of tea."

* * *

Covering her face with a veil to keep out the dust, Amari spat out the dirty taste she felt in her mouth, to little avail as she still continued to feel as if she had bitten into a chunk of dirt. She and the Kyoshi Warriors were all in sound agreement that they hated deserts, but they weren't going to get out of the one they were in any time soon; she was just glad they were able to fill up their skins at a water spring before they trekked out into the flat, dry wasteland that sat between the Outer Wall of Ba Sing Se and the West Lake. Her feet ached a little, but seeing that they had lower their pace dramatically after crossing the Serpent's Pass, she felt a sense of calm; the worst was behind them, or at least she felt that way. Nakata was trudging along beside her, glancing out at the horizon around them, the only distinguishable feature being the Outer Wall that could be seen in the far distance to the right of them. To their east was the morning sun, and to the north, where they were heading, nothing much was apparent except for what looked to be the almost mirage-like sight of hills; she was unsure herself if her mind was coming to conclusions or they could actually see the edge of the flat wasteland already.

"As if there couldn't be enough dust in this damn world already." Nakata huffed with frustration as she covered her eyes to hold off the dust that was being blown into their faces by a gust of wind.

"It seems that dust loves us. Too bad it's a one way relationship." she joked, making her fellow warrior snicker at her suggestion; she thought that it was a decent analogy to their situation.

As she continued to walk along, Amari grabbed her water skin and took a swig from it, breathing out loudly as she appreciated the cold liquid rushing down her throat; this action caught her odd glances from her comrades, who might have found her rather dramatic consumption of water to be unusual, but she dismissal such ideas as stupid. She was appreciating the fact that she wasn't dehydrated; expressing that to the world wasn't the most unusual thing for her to do. Glancing back around as she wiped the water from her lips, she made sight of something she hadn't before; covering her eyes from the sun's glare, she was able to make out what looked to be a smokestack far away, past the horizon.

"Huh- looks like someone's having a big fire." she spoke her thoughts aloud, earning her a concerned glance from her leader, who looked rather seriously at her, coming to a complete halt.

"What did you say, Amari?" she asked, the warrior pointing out to the west of them to the smokestack; the other Kyoshi Warriors all repeated what she had done, covering their eyes to stop the sun's glare from getting in the way, making sight of the same thing she had.

"That's definitely something... unnatural." Suki admitted, Amari looking at her with confusion.

"Unnatural- that someone would be making a campfire in the middle of the day?" she asked, the head warrior shaking her head.

"No. It's not a campfire. I think it's a Fire Nation factory." she acknowledged, the warrior looking back at her superior with confusion.

"A factory? It's the middle of a desert. Why would there be a factory all the way out here?" she asked her, Esumi stepping forward, pointing out the Outer Wall in the distance.

"We're near the front, aren't we? The Fire Nation wants to conquer Ba Sing Se, and it makes sense they'd have stuff nearby ready to fight the Earth Kingdom." she considered, Nakata nodding as she raised a finger to her chin.

"You guys remember when that side-burns guy and his little army came to Kyoshi? Their ship let off a big smokestack like that- dark, nearly black." she explained, the warriors all nodding along in thought.

"So it's a ship?" Amari mused, her friend shaking her head in dismissal.

"No- it's not a ship; this is a desert after all. It must be something else- some kind of machine, or factory... something dangerous." she noted, the other warriors nodding along, Suki stepping forward.

"And we're going steer clear of that. Maybe once we find a village we can determine what's going on over there- somebody will know what they're up to." she acknowledged, "We're travelling to protect people, not go out of our way to pick a fight with the Fire Nation, no matter how much you might be scratching for one." she explained, eyeing Amari as she finished, indicating she was the one who wanted to be fighting the ash-makers; that wasn't an inaccurate judgement- she did want to fight them, but she of all people after being captured, knew that they shouldn't try and take on people who are better armed and prepared than them.

"Yeah, I agree." Nakata nodded, Sawa and Esumi making the same motions; all eyes turned to face her, and Amari was forced to nod in agreement.

"Well, yeah- I'm not stupid." she conceded, before Suki waved her hand, continuing to walk forward.

"Come on, it's only been a few hours since dawn. Let's keep walking." she directed her fellow warriors, who followed en suite, even if they would all rather sit down and rest.

As they continued to trek along the shapeless and desolate surface, their eyes still focused on their west, eyeing the smokestack, which didn't recede away in any time; it seemed that it was getting bigger, but Amari dismissed that thought after a few moments. She knew that she could be going crazy from the heat; it was no Si Wong Desert, but it was bad enough that she knew not to trust her first perceptions when she was suffering from the physical strain of walking through a desert.

* * *

Walking down the bustling streets of the port town, the retired general Iroh glanced around intently with his nephew in tow, checking the various buildings he could see for lotus insignia that would mark a building as being associated with his organisation; he knew that there had to be some members of the Order of the White Lotus in such a bustling town, especially seeing that it was full of so many refugees. His organisation spread far and wide over the Fire Nation, Earth Kingdom and even into the Water Tribes, and he guessed that many of his fellow members must have been dispossessed by the Fire Nation's conquests, having to flee east to Ba Sing Se, just like any other refugees. Zuko's mood was quite sour, but he couldn't blame his nephew for feeling in such a way; despite the great sleep they were able to find in the tavern, his nephew's separation from his budding relationship was obviously draining any cheeriness he might have been feeling.

"Uncle, are you sure you know what you're looking for?" his nephew asked of him, Iroh grinning back at him with assurance.

"Of course, I've met with members of my organisation before." he told him, the banished prince raising a brow, seemingly confused by his explanation.

"When I've been banished?" he asked in clarification, the retired general nodding.

"Uh- yes, I've met fellow members in a few ports that we've visited, not to unlike this one. They're illusive, but when one knows what they're looking for, they're as obvious as the sun in the sky."

Looking away from his nephew, he focused his eyes on the details of various building frontages that he could see as they walked down the busy road; it was full of refugees, merchants and beggars. Walking through such a place with his nephew reminded him of the number of times they had gone to port together, although the reason behind their presence was rather different as fugitives rather than royals searching for the Avatar. In the corner of his eye he spotted what looked to be a book-store, and he noted a specifically floral style on it's sign; he took this to be suspicious of belonging to his organisation, and he pointed to it, directing Zuko to follow him as he approached it's front door.

His nephew glanced at him with interest, looking up to the sign to read it, "A book-store? Huh- a bunch of learned Pai Sho players?" he asked his uncle, who chuckled at the suggestion; he would like to call himself learned, but he personally found more value in the power of conversation rather than the written word, though he wasn't averse to it.

"Well, yes. You could call us that." he acknowledged, opening the door to enter the store, where he saw long rows of bookshelves, as well as a small lounge area at the front of the store, nearby the counter, where a middle-aged salesman stood waiting for them.

"Ah- customers! Please, come in- we've got all types of literature for all tastes." he introduced, the retired general stepping over to the counter with a small smile.

"Do you have any books about tea-leaves? I'm rather interested in creating the perfect brew." he asked the man, who smiled with seemingly genuine interest.

"Tea-leaves you say? I'm sure we have a book about that. Botany is on our list." he assured him, Iroh's lips curling at the mention of the word botany.

Placing his white lotus tile down on the table, he smiled at the man, "Well then, friend, could you show me to it?"

The salesman looked at the tile before nodding, seemingly having got his jist, "I see, you're a fellow Pai Sho player." he acknowledged, the retired general smirking.

"Yes, would you mind a game?" he asked, the man scratching his chin for a moment.

"Well, I'd like to, but let's get you that book first. The perfect tea can't wait, can it?" he asked him, to which Iroh chuckled, knowing that the salesman was spot on in his thinking.

"You're right." he agreed, before stepping away from the counter, the salesman walking from behind the counter toward the rows of bookshelves.

He led Iroh up along one of the aisles, glancing around a section with a sign above it, distinctively making it out as a section on botany; he guided his fingers over the shelf, pulling out an old book that had a calligraphic image of a tea bush on it.

"This is it, my friend." the salesman smiled at him, handing the retired general the book to glance through; opening to a random page, he saw that indeed was a book that described all different kinds of teas that could be brewed from different plants, as well as the combinations one could use to make specific kinds of herbal teas.

"Brilliant. How much will it cost?" he asked, the salesman scratching his chin for a moment.

"That'd be a gold piece and a half." he told him, Iroh pulling out the requested currency and handing it to the salesman, who smiled back, indicating to the lounge area at the front of the book-store, "Now, how about that Pai Sho game?"

"Indeed." he smiled back at him before looking to Zuko, who seemed rather confused the situation already, "Watch and learn, nephew. Pai Sho is the greatest game to grace this earth."

His nephew rolled his eyes, "Yes, Uncle. I've heard to say so too many times already."

Sitting down at the small table with the salesman, he watched as his new acquaintance pulled out a Pai Sho board and placed it on the table; the man smiled at him and offered him the tiles at choice.

"You can go first." he offered, the retired general nodding before placing a white lotus tile in the centre of the board; the salesman looked at him for a moment before silently placing down his own tile.

Motion after motion they placed more tiles down, eventually forming the outline shape of a lotus; the salesman leaned into his pocket and pulled out an old lotus piece, smiling warmly at Iroh.

"The White Lotus opens wide to those who know her secrets." he admitted, affirming that he was indeed a member of his organisation, "What brings you this way, friend. You and your nephew seem to be a long way from home."

Iroh cleared his throat, "We are in need of passports, so we can enter Ba Sing Se." he simply explained, the salesman nodding with comprehension.

"Hmph- on the run, are you?" he asked, the retired general simply nodding without a second thought, much to the chagrin of his nephew.

"Uncle! You can't just admit to things like that." he exclaimed, Iroh shaking his head with slight disappointment in his nephew.

"I told you, we can trust any member of the White Lotus. And it's not like you're unrecognisable, nephew." he conceded, the salesman clearing his throat, indicating that he had something to say.

"Neither are you, Grand Lotus Iroh." the salesman acknowledged his identity, "I heard from channels about your escape from Fire Nation custody." he explained.

Iroh chuckled under his breath, "Yes, it seems that old Bumi has spread the word as well as I'd expect him to."

"You knew who we were the entire time." Zuko exclaimed with surprise, the salesman shrugging his shoulders.

"It is my job to know who people are. Well, that, and to sell the finest books the world has to offer." he chuckled to himself, before his face turned serious as he faced Iroh, "I can get you passports, but it will take a few hours for me to acquire the sufficient materials. I will make sure you can enter the city."

"Thank you; we are staying at the Blue Snake Inn, just up the road from here." he explained, the salesman nodding.

"I will meet you there this evening. Feel free to enjoy the town while you have the time; there's a lot of good stores about... not that I'd like to detract from my own." he explained to them, the retired general pulling himself from his seated position.

"Of course, my nephew and I ought to go find some place to get lunch; the sun is already high in the sky." he acknowledged, the salesman smiling back as he and Zuko walked over to the door, ready to leave the book-store.

"Have a good day." he fare-welled them with a curt wave, the two royals exiting the building, exiting out into the brightness of the sun; covering his eyes momentarily from the glare, he turned back to face his nephew.

"Well then, should we get some lunch?" he asked the rather confused teen, who shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, his voice sounding nearly poignant when he responded.

"I guess so. What else is there to do?"

* * *

Narrowing her glance at the desolate village before her, Suki looked around it, noticing that unlike the villages they had visited in other parts of the Earth Kingdom, the one they were observing seemed to be nearly abandoned; the only indication of anything being otherwise was the smoke that was coming from a number of chimneys. She and her fellow warriors were tired after walking for a whole day and a half across the desolate dry wasteland that was situated to the west of Ba Sing Se; the country they had reached was just as desolate, but there was actual foliage about, and there seemed to be a stream nearby, something she could make out as being audible in the distance.

Amari tapped her on the shoulder, "Boss, should we go and ask if we can camp at this village? We're getting tired, and I'd prefer to be somewhere not in the middle of the desert." she asked her, voicing her own concerns.

The head warrior sighed before nodding, "Y-yeah, I guess we should. Let's find out who lives here first. For all we know it could be an abandoned village turned bandit camp." she suggested, making her fellow warrior scoff.

"Pfft- Suki, don't you remember? There's no bandits in the Earth Kingdom- only loyal servants of the Earth King." she joked, Suki knowing that her words were less of a joke and more of a critique of their country's military as a whole.

The laughter Amari had earned from the other warriors informed her that the Kyoshi Warriors were still feeling a little light-hearted, despite their recent struggles; the group continued to walk on forward toward the village, all tensely ready for a fight if need be. They didn't want one, but from experience, it seemed that they always seemed to find themselves in fights when then didn't want to be. As they approached the edge of the village, she heard the sound of scuttering, instinctively drawing out her fan; not wanting to accidentally hit a child or someone of the likes, she called out in warning.

"Is anyone there?" she asked out; a few moments later, a cat appeared as if out of nowhere, and hissed at then before running out.

For a moment Suki thought that was it, but was surprised to see a toddler chasing after the cat, "Kitty! Come back!" she heard the small child squeal.

Approaching the house from which the child had ran out, she called out once more, "We're warriors who are looking for a place to stay. Is anyone there?" she asked out, before she saw a young woman peering out the doorway.

"Warriors?" she asked, looking at the girls with confusion, "But you're girls."

"That's right. We can kick arse all the same." Amari smirked confidently.

"We can't offer you any food or anything. There's not many people here anymore." the woman admitted, Suki stepping closer with a concerned face.

"Why?" she asked, the woman seeming saddened as she looked away from them.

"The Fire Nation. They rounded up all the men and sent them to work; anyone who didn't have their families taken ran away." she explained, "There's only a dozen of us left." she explained to the warriors.

Stepping forward, the head warrior smiled to her, "We aren't here to take your food. Quite the contrary, we could help you get some. We're pretty good at hunting and trapping animals." she explained, the woman's eyes brightening as she looked up at her.

"Really?" she asked, Suki smirking at her.

"And we'll take care of the Fire Nation. Trust me- we're more than capable of handling a few ash-maker slave-masters." she cracked her knuckles, the woman before her becoming fearful.

"Y-you shouldn't do that. They're building something to the south-west of here. Some kind of a machine; I think it's really unsafe. None of us have been allowed to see our families; I haven't seen my husband in months." she explained to the warriors, Amari walking over, confidently placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I swear by our honour as warriors we'll help you get your families back. This is our job- our obligation." she assured her, Suki smiling at her friend's determination.

"Yes- that's right, isn't it girls?" she asked the other warriors, who pulled out their fans confidently.

"Yes ma'am." Sawa confidently saluted her, the other warriors snickering at her nearly sarcastic act of respect.

The leader of the Kyoshi Warriors turned back to face the weary villager, "Is there somewhere we could set up camp? We don't have any tents at the moment."

"Um, there's an old farmhouse to the north of here; it's been abandoned for a few months, so it's still in good condition." she explained, the woman glancing at them with interest, "You said you could go hunting?" she asked, the head warrior smiling back.

"We're a little tired today, but tomorrow we could surely go find you some food." she assured her, the woman nodding in consideration, looking a little embarrassed from asking her question.

"Um- of course. You girls have a good night. Come ask me or any of the other villagers if you have any problems. We can probably help each other in more ways than one." she admitted, the warriors looking at her for a moment before they waved their goodbyes, only Suki standing by, glancing at the toddler that was still chasing a cat nearby.

"Your kid is cute." she admitted, "I hope they get a chance to grow up in a better world than the one we have right now."

"Th-thanks..." the woman smiled back at her, seemingly unsure how to respond to her rather serious words; trying to seem more casual, she made a light chuckle before waving as she began to pace a way.

"Have a good night..." she told her, the woman waving, before she cleared her throat.

"Lian." she called out, the Kyoshi Warrior glancing back with slight confusion, before the woman clarified, "That's my name."

"Have a good night, Lian."

* * *

Entering the monorail station, Zuko cleared his throat, feeling somewhat uncertain about what he was about to do; he and his uncle, the legendary Dragon of the West, who sought to conquer Ba Sing Se, were about to enter that very city as refugees. He wanted to protect his uncle, but he knew he was destined for greater things than being a nobody in the Lower Ring. He had heard about that place, although he was unsure if the rumours were necessarily true, as they had come from odd sources in odd places, but from what he knew, Ba Sing Se wasn't a place anyone really ought to want to flee to unless they were fleeing from something very bad. Approaching the ticket booth for the monorail, the two of them gave each other uneasy glances; both of them hoped that the White Lotus had given them functioning passports, but it was possible that they wouldn't make the cut. After having worked at Full Moon Bay for a few weeks, Zuko had a pretty good idea how nit-picky customs could be.

Walking up to the ticket booth, Iroh placed some coins down on the bench, looking to the ticket lady, "Two tickets for the monorail, please." he asked, the woman opening her palm.

"Passports please." she asked, his uncle pulling the tickets out of his bag; the woman looked at their tickets momentarily, before glancing back at them, "So Mr. Lee and Mr. ummmm- Mushy, is it?" she asked, his uncle looking rather displeased by his fake-name's mispronunciation.

"It's pronounced Mushi." he clarified, the woman glancing back at him with offense.

"You telling me how to do my job?" she grumbled with annoyance, his uncle shaking his head, trying to act cool as he approached the ticket booth.

"Uh, no, no. But may I just say you're like a flower in bloom. Your beauty is intoxicating." he told her with a suave smile.

She looked surprised for a moment before batting her eyes, "You're pretty easy on the eyes yourself, handsome." she complimented him, before imitating a roaring noise like a cat, much to Zuko's disgust, "Welcome to Ba Sing Se." she stamped their tickets, the Prince grabbing them before walking away, disturbed from what he had just seen.

"I'm going to forget that I saw that." he mumbled to himself, Iroh following after him after a few moments.

"Slow down, nephew. We've still got a while to wait for our train. It's a going to be a few minutes." he clarified, the Prince sighing as he sat himself down on a bench.

"Whatever. As long as I don't have to see something like that again, I'll be happy." he told his uncle, who sat down beside him on the bench.

"Oh it's not that bad nephew. There's some things you need to do to get around in this world, flirting happens to be one I'm quite skilled at." he grinned, Zuko turning away thinking he was going to puke from the disgust he felt.

"That was gross." he grumbled, "Can we talk about something a little less gross than that?" he asked, Iroh obliging with a grin.

"Of course, what about what we're going to do now, as we'll be living in Ba Sing Se?" he asked, the Prince narrowing his glance at his uncle.

"Let me guess, tea-making?" he asked, the retired general chuckling.

"A brilliant suggestion nephew. And I'm sure you could partake as well, your skills are more refined than they once were." he acknowledged, Zuko shaking his head.

"Uh- I don't want to brag. I'm not that good, Uncle." he admitted, Iroh patting him on the shoulder.

"With time, you will become a master of tea-making, just like myself." he assured him, the Prince sighing, looking away wistfully.

"What a day that will be... maybe I can woo Azula with the power of tea." he joked rather sarcastically, Iroh laughing at his comment, appreciating the humour in such a stupendous possibility.

They were interrupted by a loud and obnoxious sounding tea-seller, "Get your hot tea here! Finest tea in Ba Sing Se!" he exclaimed, Zuko rolling his eyes; they were in a monorail station, how good could it be?

"Ooh! Jasmine please." Iroh waved over to the tea seller, who quickly walked over, pouring his uncle a cup of tea as soon as he handed over a few coins.

As the seller walked away, he sipped from the tea cup, but quickly grimaced in disgust, "Blah! Ugh, coldest tea in Ba Sing Se is more like it! What a disgrace!" he exclaimed, in anger, Zuko shrugging his shoulders with a smirk.

"What'd you expect? Look at where you're getting it from." he advised his uncle, who looked at him slightly annoyed, especially seeing that it was the younger of the pair giving the advice.

"Hmph- we have to make do." he grumbled, Zuko rolling his eyes at him, before glancing out to look around the station; a few moments later he realised the feel of damp warmth on his left cheek and glanced to notice his uncle holding a now warm cup of tea.

His eyes lit up with anger, realising what his uncle had just done, "Uncle!" he clenched a fist, ready to strike the tea out of his uncle's hands; the older man reflexively pulled his cup away as his nephew gritted his teeth in anger.

"What are you doing firebending your tea? For a wise, old man, that was a pretty stupid move!" he grumbled, Iroh looking at him with concern, fearful for the safety of the tea in his hands.

"Please, nephew. Just let me enjoy my tea. Have you ever had cold tea?" he asked the Prince, who shrugged his shoulders.

"Not that I can recall." he acknowledged, seemingly proving his uncle's argument as he confidently huffed a breath.

"Then you don't understand; there is no need to get so agitated." he suggested to his nephew, who whispered angrily in response.

"Of all the things that could get me thrown in prison, I really don't want it to be your damn love of tea."


	30. Good Work

_Leaning back to dodge a powerful fireball sent his way, Zuko tensed as he felt the heat of his sister's blue flames fly past his torso; she was fast on her feet when it came to sparring, but he was prepared. He had watched her train her sets countless times, to the point at which he rightly thought he could predict her moves; she was always learning new ones, but he knew there was only so many ways firebending could be used to fight. Using the momentum of his lean, he thrust his foot forward to send a kick of flames at his sister, who otherwise might have thought he was about to fall on his back. Azula barely dodged his unexpected kick before throwing a fireball in his direction, Zuko already ready to disperse it, having quickly taken his stance once more; he smirked confidently at her, something that made her narrow her eyes at him with annoyance._

_"Don't you get cocky now, Zuzu." she growled at him, before forming daggers of flames in her hands._

_"I'm not." he assured her as she quickly raced forward to strike him._

_He tensed his stance, crossing his arms in front of her, ready to cut through her potential attack with his own blades of fire; she however, did not simply run to jab at him, but instead leapt forward, landing her left foot on his right knee before slashing at his face from an angle from which he most certainly couldn't block. Instead of even trying to move his arms up he decided to twist his body around and land on his side; her attack still technically succeeded, although the blow was glancing, barely singing his eyebrows. Azula, however, obviously wasn't expecting him to move out of the way as she fell forward, somersaulting as she landed. Her eyes narrowed at him with annoyance as she turned to face him, taking another stance, ready to go attack him hand-to-hand with fire-powered punches. The Prince kept a stoic face, taking a mirrored stance as he stood up; she stood forward throwing her power into a number of speedily executed jabs, each of which was held off, though barely by his arms, which he had coated with a layer of flames shielded him from the brunt of her attacks. Before she could throw another jab, he kicked her leg, sweeping her feet from underneath her; he thought he had a golden opportunity, but it was turned against him as she jabbed upward, the flames whacking him square in the jaw and forcing his teeth together, the Prince growling from the pain as his sister recovered her form._

_"What's the matter? Your little teeth hurt?" she mocked him, to which he didn't respond, gritting his teeth before charging a fire blast in his right hand; Azula moved to strike his arm as to prevent his attack, but Zuko preemptively directed his fire blast downward at their feet, throwing both of the siblings off their feet._

_The Prince winced as he fell down onto his side, struggling to return to form; he felt a sense of relief seeing that he had knocked his sister off her feet, slowly regained his footing. He realised that he was now out of range from getting his face whacked by a quick jab, and used this situation to his advantage; as his sister returned to form he dispersed her expected volley of fireballs, before he shot two fireballs, nearly simultaneously, the first aimed at her torso, where he expected to her to block, while the second shot at her feet. She tripped backwards in recoil from the hit, unable to deflect a powerful kick of flames that he shot out at her, properly knocking the Princess to the ground. She groaned from the pain of what he assumed was a twisted ankle, and as he approached her, she looked at him with a frustrated glare._

_"Well, brother, you've done it. Are you going to knock me out for good measure?" she asked him, the Prince shaking his head, offering her a hand to help her up, much to her surprise._

_After a few moments of silence, she sighed and accepted his hand, and was slowly lifted to her feet, hobbling on one foot; she looked at him with slight contempt, "Why did you do that? You finally beat me, I thought you'd start celebrating and mocking me." she admitted, Zuko smiling back at her with a sense of completion; he wasn't there to beat her, he was there to learn, and beating her was it's own kind of lesson._

_"No- why would I do that? I'm thankful for your help. Without you, I couldn't beat you." he simply put it, his sister raising a brow with slight confusion, before smiling, appreciating the credit he had given her._

_"So, are you telling me I won, because you won?" Azula questioned with interest, the Prince shrugging his shoulders._

_"Well, if you were planning on me becoming as good a fighter as you... uh- yeah." he awkwardly expressed his thoughts, making her smirk._

_"No- you're right, Zuzu. I'm happy with your progress, and proud I can claim it is my doing." she declared, placing her hands on her hips with unbridled confidence._

_"Now, how about we go to the infirmary to get your foot checked on? It looks like it hurts." he asked of her, knowing his words were more of a request; his sister was as arrogant as ever, flicking her hair back and scoffing at him._

_"I am perfectly capable of walking." she declared, the Prince raising his hands defensively._

_"Okay, fine. Go ahead." he directed her, the Princess doing just that, before she wobbled on her left foot, making a grunt of pain; after a few steps he walked up behind her and put a hand over her shoulder._

_"Come on, just let me help." he pleaded of her, Azula looking back at him with spite, before she frowned, her voiceless anger indicating that she would accept his help despite how much it offended her pride._

_"Whatever, but don't you dare let any of the guards see me like this." she gritted her teeth at him, his eyes widening in thought of what her request actually meant._

_"But, Zula, there's guards everywhere." he mumbled with confusion, making her wink at him, sounding as triumphant as ever._

_"Exactly. Unless you're a master of stealth, I'll be walking my way there."_

_He looked back at her with a determined glare, "I can do stealth."_

_"Oh really?" she sarcastically made a gasp of surprise, the Prince not taking her jokes to heart; she needed his help and she would get it whether she liked it or not._

_"Just watch me."_

* * *

"This is our new workplace, nephew."

Zuko raised a brow, glancing about the quaint tea-shop with interest; he knew his uncle wanted to work in a tea-shop of all places, and honestly, he couldn't blame him for choosing to do so. He was a masterful tea brewer, and he knew if he had any aspiration to make anything out of his skill, working in a tea-shop was one way to do it; Iroh was getting paid for doing what he loved to do, something the Prince wished he could say for himself. He didn't want to work all day serving people tea, but then again, he didn't have anything better to do while they lurked in Ba Sing Se to hide from the Fire Nation.

"Well, I'm glad that you're so giddy about this." he admitted with a small smile on his face, something that his uncle greatly appreciated.

"And I am glad you're glad. We're all glad." he grinned at his nephew brightly, much to his embarrassment as their new boss approached them.

"You must be Lee. It is a pleasure to have two new faces in here." he smiled at him, "I'm Pao, the owner of this establishment."

Grinning awkwardly, and unsure what to do, Zuko responded in kind, "Hi..."

"I have some aprons for you to wear. We do have a dress code here." he clarified, handing them each a white apron with yellow trimmings, each of them suited to their differing frames.

Zuko pulled the neck string over his head and let the apron hang down over his chest, tying up the waist string around his abdomen, tying a knot around his posterior; glancing at his uncle struggling to tie his own waist string around his torso, he cringed in embarrassment.

"Well, you certainly look like official tea servers. How do you feel?" Pao asked them, the Prince huffing in annoyance.

"Ridiculous."

His uncle looked to his new employer with concern, "Uh, does this possibly come in a larger size?"

Pao looked slightly embarrassed before he smiled at them, "Uh, I have extra string in the back. Have some tea while you wait!" he offered, grabbing a pot to pour them some tea.

Handing them two cups, they nodded in thanks before he walked off to the back of the store to find some string for Iroh; glancing at his uncle, he saw him intently sip from the tea cup before belching in disgust.

"Urgh! This tea is nothing more than hot leaf juice!" he declared, holding the tea cup at a distance.

Zuko sighed with frustration, realising the stupendous rationale behind what his uncle had just said, "Uncle, that's what all tea is."

Aggrieved at his nephew's words, he exclaimed out in anger, "How could a member of my own family say something so horrible?! We'll have to make some major changes around here." he told the Prince, who rolled his eyes at his uncle as he angrily stormed over to the window, throwing the tea from the pot out of the window.

He returned to his nephew's side, who looked at him with confusion, "Why did you do that, Uncle? That was Pao's tea he was probably going to sell to some customers."

"He won't have to sell that to the customers. I'll make some better tea myself." he declared proudly, Zuko clenching his nose bridge with annoyance; if his uncle was looking to get in trouble with their new boss, he had certainly found a way to do so.

Pao returned a few moments later, with the string Iroh had wanted in hand, smiling at them both, "Did you enjoy your tea?" he asked the pair, the Prince giving an uneasy nod while his uncle blatantly lied with a grin.

"Of course, thank you for getting that." he acknowledged the string in the shop owner's hand, which he handed over to him immediately, allowing him to tie the strings together and complete his apron.

"Well then, you two can start getting to work right away." Pao told them, the retired general raising a brow.

"Oh yes, about that... can I start a fresh brew? I'm sure there'll be a lot of customers coming through those doors." he asked of him, to which he smiled, glad with his proactive attitude that was concealing the fact he had thrown the other batch out the window.

"Of course. Thank you, Mushi." he confirmed his idea, "I'll be at the counter if you need me. Just serve anybody that comes on in." he directed the two tea-servers, who nodded curtly in confirmation.

"Indeed we will." Iroh grinned once more, earning an elbow to his side by his nephew.

"Don't do that again." the Prince demanded of his uncle in a barely audible whisper, who simply chuckled at his words.

"As long as we are serving good tea here, that won't have to happen." he assured his nephew, who rolled his eyes.

"Well come on then, let's go make some tea." Zuko prodded him into action, quickly walking over to a stove to start preparing a tea pot, leaving the banished prince turned tea-server not much to do but wait for his uncle to brew the batch; he just hoped that Pao didn't notice the fact that Iroh was brewing from the same pot that he had given them tea out of a few moments earlier- that would procure an awkward situation that he didn't want to save his uncle from.

* * *

"Thank you so much for this."

Suki smiled at Lian confidently as the Kyoshi Warriors brought over a cat-deer on a spit; they had gone hunting and got the villagers a fine meal for the day, and now as they returned, the head warrior felt a sense of completion. The villagers before her hadn't deserved to have their families torn apart by the Fire Nation, and had their village dissipate into nearly nothing; giving them some food was the least they could do.

"It really isn't an issue." she assured her and the other villagers, who looked intently at the cat-deer carcass as it was placed over the bonfire they had set up in the centre of the village, "This is the least we could do."

"Y-yeah, no one deserves to starve." Amari backed her up with a warm smile, surprisingly docile in her attitude.

She'd usually be the first to complain or become annoyed by chores and tasks like hunting for a village, but she too seemed to agree with her sentiment; it was their job to help villages like the one they had found. Suki knew however, that there was more work to be done, work that would be harder than simply trapping a cat-deer.

"We will head out tonight to scout out this Fire Nation factory." she bluntly acknowledged, the villagers looking at her with concerned glances.

"N-no, you don't need to that." an older man assured them, "The Fire Nation said they'd let our families go once the task was complete." he explained, earning an aggrieved glare from Lian.

"Shu, do you really believe that the Fire Nation is just going to let them go?" she asked him accusingly, making him sound more aligned with the enemy than any good Earth Kingdom citizen would like to be.

"Excuse me?! I'm not some idiot who actually likes the ash-makers!" he exclaimed defensively, "I'm just saying it's a little unsafe for anyone-" he turned to the Kyoshi Warriors, "even for skilled warriors like yourselves, to break into a Fire Nation factory and free our families. They've got lots of soldiers- what ever they're building, they don't want any Earth Kingdom forces getting their hands on it." he explained, Amari raising a brow in confusion.

"Wait, so have you been to the factory?" she asked, the man nodding with a grimace.

"I was taken like the rest of the men, but they sent me back home because I was too infirm to do any of the things they wanted me to do." he explained, "Some would call it luck, but it's not luck to see exactly what your family is suffering. My sons are in there right now."

"Well, Mr. Shu, we'd like to take the opportunity to free your sons. You won't have to wait for the Fire Nation to finish their project- you will all see your families again." Suki assured him and the other villagers, who nodded along, "We're stealthy enough. Trust me when I say we can handle the Fire Nation Army, as long as we're two steps ahead of them."

"Two steps ahead, aye?" Shu mumbled, before nodding, "I want my sons out of that place, but I don't want anyone, especially young 'uns like you girls having to pay the price of war."

"We're far past that potential." Nakata acknowledged, "The only reason we're here is because the Fire Nation invaded our home island. We were protecting the Avatar, and luckily he was able to get away with his friends before the Fire Nation caught him." she explained, the villagers' eyes widening with surprise.

"You know the Avatar- like that little airbending kid that everyone's talking about?" Lian asked in clarification, Suki nodding to confirm.

"We do. His name is Aang, and he's the last- or one of the last hopes for our world." she admitted, knowing all too well she didn't want to voice the identity of the other saviour she had in mind; not that he'd even want to be called a saviour, Zuko wasn't prideful enough to accept such a title.

"Well- uh- thanks for stopping the Fire Nation back then. We're all counting on the Avatar to do... something." Shu acknowledged, the villagers nodding in agreement with his sentiment.

"We don't expect to win the war ourselves, but we want to help the innocents." Suki declared, before glancing at the spit, "Anyway, that isn't what we should be worrying about right now. Who wants some freshly roasted cat-deer?" she asked the villagers and her warriors, all of which brightened up at the suggestion; grabbing the ceremonial dagger from her belt, she unsheathed the blade and glanced at its words momentarily before she began to cut at the skinned animal's carcass, cutting meat from the spit.

"Thank you." Lian bowed to her, graciously accepting some meat in a bowl, handing some to her child as she sat down by the bonfire.

Suki smiled at the villagers as each came up to get some meat and after them each of the Kyoshi Warriors did as well, taking fair sized portions for themselves; the head warrior got her own meat last, cutting it off with the dagger sitting down between Amari and Sawa, holding her slices of meat in a small wooden bowl.

As she began to chew on the meat, Amari glanced her way, obviously having a question in mind, "So- uh- when you said we were going to scout, did you mean right after dinner?" she asked, the head warrior nodding confidently.

"Yes- we'll leave most of our supplies here and only take some water, food and our sleeping rolls, just in case we need to pitch up somewhere out in the wilderness between here and the camp." she explained her plan, the Kyoshi Warrior cringing in thought.

"Uh- what if the Fire Nation finds us and takes us when we're sleeping?" she asked, Suki shrugging her shoulders, unsure how to figure a way around that possibility.

"It's probably more likely they'd find us here and try to imprison us." she admitted, "There's always more labourers for the ash-makers, even if they're old men, women and children."

"I don't want that to happen." Amari confidently declared, Sawa glancing her way with a similarly confident glare.

"Yeah, Suki. We can't let that happen." she stressed, the head warrior smirking at her subordinates, knowing her plan was going to involve more than just freeing a few villagers from servitude.

"We won't let the Fire Nation mess with these innocents any longer. We might be going to rescue these villagers, but we're going to see if sabotage is possible too." she admitted, the two warriors nodding along with agreement.

"I'd like to blow up a Fire Nation factory myself." Amari declared, her chaotic soul bearing itself with no shame, "It'd be a productive use of our time, if anything." she argued, Suki face-palming with embarrassment; the more her mind lulled over the idea, the more reasonable it began to sound.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but you've got a point, Amari."

* * *

Looking over the expanse of the West Lake, Princess Azula felt a sense of calm; she and her team had traversed the Si Wong Desert to reach a small Fire Nation port that sat on the coast of the lake. She taken to enjoying a picnic dinner, to spend her otherwise uneventful evening with her two friends, who she knew probably found their whole situation boring. They hadn't heard anything about the Blue Spirit, which indicated to the Princess that her brother was not heading into Fire Nation occupied territories; given where he was last spotted, he could only reasonably gone to Ba Sing Se. She had gotten schematics and detailed files on War Minister Qin's supposed machine, a powerful drill that could be used to make a hole in the Outer Wall and allow the entrance of Fire Nation forces into the impenetrable city; she knew that she and her team would oversee the attack on the Outer Wall when it commenced in a few weeks later, and was essentially passing time awaiting her Royal Barge's arrival in the West Lake.

Ty Lee sighed, placing her hands on her chin as she looked out toward the sunset, "So what's with this drill anyway; it doesn't sound like it has anything to do with helping Zuko with the Avatar." she explained her thoughts, the Princess snickering at her suggestion.

"Well, you're technically correct. This is a diversion that I personally would like to partake in. Conquering Ba Sing Se is one of my great aspirations, and if War Minister Qin wants to take all the glory, I will make sure that is not the case." she curled her lips, to which the acrobat simply shrugged her shoulders.

"I guess that's helpful. You want to be the greatest Princess of the Fire Nation ever, right?"

She winked at her friend's suggestion, "That is quite right, Ty. I will make sure my name is written in history for such an impressive deed."

"You said technically correct. Why exactly?" Mai's monotonous voice questioned, the Princess smirking, knowing that she would want to explain her master-plan in full.

"I realised that Zuzu must have sneaked into Ba Sing Se by this point. If I conquer the city, I can find him and force him to join me in finally getting rid of the Avatar." she declared, "And rid him of the terrible influence that is my uncle." she furthered, making Mai snicker.

"Oh, he's a terrible influence?" she asked almost sarcastically, the Princess not preferring to take it in that manner, as it would be referring to herself as a terrible influence on her brother.

"I'd watch my tongue, if I was you." she narrowed her glare at her friend, whose stoic face didn't falter at her tense staring; after a few moments she chuckled, knowing that her words were more playful than intentionally offensive, "I am a terrible influence. That is if shaping my brother into the perfect Fire Lord is terrible." she clarified, Ty Lee scratching her chin.

"But Azula, why don't you just want to be Fire Lord? Wouldn't that be easier than hunting down your brother across the entire Earth Kingdom?" she asked her, the Princess musing over her question for a few moments; as nice as it would be in a fantasy world, Azula wasn't really suited for being a figurehead leader- she was far more adept at pulling the strings, even if her brother wasn't the one on the throne.

"I don't need or want to be Fire Lord. Sitting in a throne is not what I am suited to." she clarified, before raising a finger to her chin, "Despite how much I enjoy it."

"That's a little weird, don't you think?" Ty Lee asked of Mai, who simply shrugged her shoulders.

"Obligations are a big deal- even someone as determined and tough as Azula wouldn't want to deal with all the baggage that comes with being Fire Lord." she theorised, the Princess clapping her hands at her friend's little idea.

"I couldn't have said it better myself. I could be Fire Lord- that's true, but I don't want to be assassinated by some Earth Kingdom renegades at a ripe young age of twenty after I've conquered the rest of the world." she admitted, "The Imperial Guards are a good defence against such threats, but a little paranoia never hurt anyone."

"Um- I'm pretty sure that's not a saying." the acrobat mumbled, Azula rolling her eyes, picking up some of her noodle dish that she had laying beside her and eating it, giving her an excuse not to respond to her friend's accurate assessment; it wasn't a saying, but she knew that being aware of threats gave her an edge against her enemies, who might exploit any ignorance she had.

"Also... twenty? What exactly do you expect to happen to your father?" Mai asked her, the Princess nearly choking on her noodles as she glanced back, unsure how to respond.

"Well, things happen- accidents happen." she smirked at her friend, who seemed more uncomfortable than she had ever been the entire time she had been in the team; after thinking about her father's potential demise, she chuckled, raising a finger to clarify, "Actually, more reasonably, the Avatar might happen."

"But how could the Avatar defeat your father?" Ty Lee asked her with a rather confused tone; she agreed with the sentiment fully, knowing that even it was possible, she thought it unreasonable that the last airbender could face up to her father.

The Princess scratched at her chin, "He has the potential to be more powerful than any bender alive, even my father- or myself." she acknowledged, "But that is why Zuko must capture him, to prevent that eventuality."

"I feel more confused after this discussion than less." the acrobat pouted, returning to eating her roast duck noodles with a rather contemplative glare.

"I don't blame you." Mai conceded in agreement, "Azula is confusing." which made the Princess grin at her friends, happy to be as contrived as she was; she was certain that if not for that chaos that formed her very being, she would be a rather easy opponent for her enemies.

"I'll take that as compliment."

* * *

"This is it. This has to be it."

Amari became excited at the thought that they had finally found what they were looking for; with the crescent moon high in the sky and their group tired from walking in the dark for an hour or two, she was glad that they had finally arrived at their destination. Although she couldn't see the Fire Nation factory, the light that clearly came off at the horizon indicated to her that there was either a small city across the hill from her or a massive factory; seeing that there was no roads coming in to where they were heading, she refuted the idea of it being a city.

"Yeah, it better be." Nakata grumbled, wiping her eyes before she increased her pace, beginning to race up the hillside toward the light.

She seemed rather eager to find the place they were looking for and then find a nice place to sleep; Amari agreed strongly with the sentiment, following her uphill, much to the chagrin of Suki, who stood back with Sawa and Esumi.

"Girls! Slow down- you might get spotted!" she called out, trying to warn them, but they wouldn't take that order seriously; they had been waiting all day to finally find the place where the Fire Nation was committing evil atrocities upon innocents.

As they reached the top of hill, they finally made sight of what they had been looking for, and it was not what Amari had expected; sitting on the edge of dusty plain was a massive metal structure, shaped liked a massive flute almost, surrounded by scaffolding, workshops and what looked to be the quarters for both the villagers who had been forced to work there and the Fire Nation engineers overseeing the construction.

"What in the name of Avatar Kyoshi is that?" she exclaimed, looking to Nakata, who seemed equally aghast by the sight of the structure.

"Something dangerous. No wonder that old dude was so afraid." she mumbled, "Look at this place." she indicated down to the settlement that sat next to the structure, if one could call it that; surrounded by metal walls and watchtowers- a proper military establishment, and for all intents and purposes, a penal colony.

They crouched down, still scanning about the settlement and massive structure, as the other three warriors came and approached them, their steps slowing to a halt as they caught the same sight they had.

"Wh-what the..." she heard Sawa mumble, behind her.

"I feel that we got more than we bargained for, girls." Suki acknowledged, the other two girls looking her way with concern, "What do you suggest we do?"

Amari glanced back at her superior, her eyes widening when she realised she was the one the question had been directed at, "Me? I renege my idea of blowing it up... I didn't expect it to be that big." she acknowledged, her fellow warriors laughing at that joke; it just seemed that her idea was fated to be even more stupendous- the massive structure before her would probably require someone as powerful as the Avatar to destroy.

"And we don't have any explosives, dummy." Nakata grinned at her, making her clench her fists at her friend's disparaging remarks.

"Shut it." she told her with a purposefully quiet tone, noting that they shouldn't ought to shout at each other when the Fire Nation could spot them, "There's no way we can destroy whatever that is." she admitted, "But we can still free those villagers, can't we?"

Suki nodded in agreement, "I don't know how we're going to get in, but I believe we'll require a distraction." she considered, before smirking in thought, "And perhaps some disguises- that'd help."

"This is where Prince Hothead would have really come in handy." she grumbled with annoyance, "His ash-making could fool them that he was a soldier or something."

She noticed the rather poignant eyes of her boss, and regretted what she said immediately; as much as she and Zuko conflicted, she didn't want to make Suki feel sad about their split. Amari decided she ought to give some better advice that didn't make her feel all wistful and depressed, "How about we camp out here, wait for some scouts to come around, bonk 'em and take their uniforms." she suggested, the warriors nodding along, Esumi scratching her chin.

"But what if all the soldiers were guys- how could we explain coming back in?" she asked, the group- that was quite the conundrum; although she doubted the intelligence of the Fire Nation as a whole, she didn't want to go as far to say they could fool them that hard.

Nakata scratching her chin, "Maybe we can make up a story- that we were on patrol looking for Earth Kingdom rebels or something and got lost." she suggested, the head warrior nodding in agreement.

"That... that could work. We don't have any better ideas, do we?" she asked the group, none of them uttering a word, after which she smirked, "Okay then, let's camp out of sight and be ready for an early start; those potential scouts might find us first." she acknowledged, Nakata exasperating quite loudly in response.

"Thank the spirits, now we can finally drop dead." she smiled brightly, Amari pulling out a fan and smirking deviously.

"I could help with that." she suggested, the other warrior's eyes opening wide with fear, holding her hands to block any attempt to knock her out.

"Ah- please no!" she pleaded, Suki intervening, pushing the two of them apart.

"Amari!" she gritted her teeth, "Could you not?"

She shrugged her shoulders and made an aloof smile, "What can I say? I like a little chaos." to which the head warrior simply simply, covering her face with her palm.

"That's quite clear."

* * *

"Would you like a pot of tea?"

Zuko sighed with frustration, remembering the fact that he had been working in a tea shop all day; glancing back at Iroh from his bedside, he rolled his eyes.

"We've been working in a tea shop all tea!" he exclaimed, "If you're going to make it, it better be different to the stuff you serve in there." he grumbled, hoping that his uncle would fulfill his request and make something a little different.

"Oh, well..." his uncle mumbled, scratching at his beard, "How about some ginseng? I haven't had it in a while." he noted, before the banished prince snickered, knowing exactly why that was the case.

"Too used to Amari demanding jasmine?" he suggestively asked, the retired general chuckling at his joke, knowing that he was right; the Kyoshi Warrior had been at the forefront of requesting tea from Iroh, and she enjoyed it far more than the company of any other person, it seemed.

"Hmph- I guess you are right, nephew." he admitted, before he used his spark rocks to set a flame under the stove; because they were living in Ba Sing Se, they had to try and keep their firebending to a minimum.

The closest thing Zuko had experienced to proper bending was connecting his breathing to a candle that sat by his bed, and even then, that wasn't exactly at his own volition; he longed to use his firebending once again, in any way that might be actually productive, like lighting his way through a street, or warming a cup of tea. The Prince realised it was just like how he felt on Kyoshi Island, where he had refused to bend until he boiled up with rage when the Avatar arrived, bending through a campfire to let out his emotions.

As his uncle turned out holding a now boiled pot of tea, he smiled at Zuko, "Let us enjoy this calming cup of ginseng."

"Y-yeah." he mumbled, getting off his bed to sit at the small table that sat between his bed and the kitchen area of their apartment.

Sitting down, he grabbed out his tea cup that he always used and indicated for his uncle to fill it; Iroh poured the hot liquid into his cup, the Prince sitting waiting for it to cool somewhat.

"So, how did you like your first day at work?" his uncle asked him, to which he sighed, grasping his nose-bridge.

"It was boring." he simply put it, "But not that hard- not really- I've served tea to the Warriors enough times to know how to do it properly." he admitted, his uncle smiling back at him.

"I am glad I can get paid to do what I love, and the small-talk I find along the way is a bonus." he admitted, making the Prince sigh with frustration, reminding him of what people had tried to talk to him about.

"All I got was thanks or questions about my damn scar." he grumbled, feeling offended by the constant questions about the mark on his left eye that constantly reminded him of his own failure.

"I see..." Iroh scratched at his beard, "That isn't kind of people, but they don't know any better."

"That's a good thing. We want to be seen as simple refugees, don't we?" he asked his uncle, who nodded curtly with agreement.

"Well, you never know. You might get the attention of some ladies." his uncle suggested, the Prince spitting his tea out as he went to sip some.

"E-excuse me? Why would I want that? I'm in a relationship, Uncle." he stressed with a rather annoyed tone.

"I don't know... perhaps, you'd like the attention?" he suggested, Zuko exasperating with annoyance as he face-palmed.

"Just no, Uncle- I don't want attention." he sighed, unable to voice his disagreement any better without getting angry, something he didn't have the energy to do.

Sipping from his tea, he let it warm his mouth before swallowing it down, feeling the heat travel down to his gut; he respected his uncle's placement of ginseng as his favourite tea- it calmed him right down from his near outburst.

"This tea saved you from a world of trouble, Uncle." he noted, making his uncle chuckle at his words, which seemed to be truthful in more ways than one.

"It sure has, nephew. Tea is the greatest weapon I have to use." he suggested, the Prince raising a brow.

"Didn't you say you asked Zhao for tea so you could ease him up for a fight?" he asked the retired general, who nodded, reminiscing back to his confrontation.

"Indeed. It didn't exactly work out that way- I wasn't exactly in the most strategic mindset." he admitted, the Prince nodding with full agreement; most of his mistakes ended up as result of his mindset being overly emotional.

"Yes- I know exactly how that feels, Uncle. It would seem that that very mindset got us in this situation to begin with." he acknowledged, realising how their entire ordeal of being shipwrecked, and then becoming fugitives had stemmed from his drunken realisations, that had led to his Agni Kai with Zhao.

"In hindsight, it seems that we ought to have been more tact. Although I thought my play on the ship with Zhao was quite smart in the end." he admitted, the Prince raising a brow at him.

"Why would that be, Uncle?" he asked, genuinely curious as to what his uncle's plan had been.

"I got your sister into the fray. And from the sounds of it, she took it upon herself to handle the slippery Admiral herself." he smirked, Zuko nodding, remembering how aggrieved Azula had seemed against Zhao when she had tried to persuade him to join her.

"I don't know what happened to Zhao in the end, but he isn't my problem to deal with anymore. I can trust Azula to do horrible things to people we have a mutual hate for." he smirked, his uncle clearing his throat, seemingly uncomfortable with their conversation topic.

"Well, yes, that's true. How about your idea of getting your sister to join us?" he asked in diversion, the Prince sighing realising that he didn't have a good answer to his question.

"I don't know how I could do it. For one, I don't know where she is, and I doubt she'll get into Ba Sing Se, being the Crown Princess and all." he admitted, his uncle furrowing a brow, pondering his words.

"Oh, my niece is far more tact than the two of us. I have no doubt that if she knows we're here she'll find a way to get to us." he acknowledged, the Prince nodding, knowing that his uncle was right; she would stop at nothing to get what she wanted, and from the sounds of it, she desperately wanted him on her side.

Holding his tea cup, he proclaimed his wishes on the matter, "Let's hope we don't get captured and that we can finally fix this world together." making Iroh smile warmly, agreeing fully with his sentiment.

"I can raise a cup to that, nephew."


	31. Breakout

_"I'm sorry."_

_Azula didn't want to say those words to anyone ever, but she felt obligated as she looked at the bandage that covered her brother's left eye; she had incited the power within, and he had been struck down in recompense. If she were to take responsibility for all of her brother's power and determination, she couldn't deny her own part in her brother's banishment. He looked at her with a mix of poignancy and anger, the two emotions barely distinguishable to the clearly battered and pained Prince; he had lost everything in the span of a single duel, where he had refused to fight his father, the one man he probably though he ought to respect above all others._

_"You're sorry?" he asked her, his croaky, dry voice sounding more confused than it had ever been; there was good reason for him to be confused as her efforts to help her brother weren't meant to be intrusive._

_She might have been more concerned if he had a complete comprehension of what she had done; he wasn't her equal, not yet, at least, and if he was able to see what she had been doing, perhaps he would rightly blame her._

_"I haven't been the best sister. I pushed you to be better, and I didn't see what could happen next." she openly told him, the Prince shaking his head._

_"Th-this wasn't your fault, Zula. I brought this upon myself... my own weakness." he acknowledged; Azula agreed with the idea that his own weakness had led to him holding back, but the strength she had given him, must have contributed to him speaking out in the meeting, believing that he was offering an argument equal to that of their own father, the Fire Lord himself._

_"Shut up about your weakness." she gritted her teeth, annoyed with her brother wallowing in his own self-pity; grabbing his shoulder she tensed her fingers on it, hoping that he would understand what she wanted him to know, "You are strong, brother. If you think that because you didn't want to fight father that made you a coward by default, you're just as foolish as Uncle." she grumbled, his eyes widening with surprise._

_"I- but I- you saw what I did." he mumbled, unable to comprehend her argument in any way that fitted with the consequences that came from his actions._

_"Yes, I did. It was... not the most pleasant thing to see." she admitted, "I couldn't look away, because I had to face what I had created."_

_Zuko's eyes narrowed at her with confusion, stepping back, at unease after hearing her words, "You didn't create me. I'm my own person- my own foolishness did this." he declared, the Princess shaking her head._

_"You misunderstand, brother." she tried to correct her stance, "I wanted you to be the Prince who could speak out, just as you did, and be completely confident in your decisions... like a real Fire Lord should be." she admitted, the Prince's eyes widening with shock._

_"Y-you're telling me... what I did was right?" he asked her, trembling with fear; he didn't want her to agree with his actions, because he wanted to believe more than anything that his father's punishment wasn't a complete injustice._

_She didn't think that herself; her father was the Fire Lord, and therefore anything he decreed was by consequence justice, and anything against that would be treachery. That was the way the world worked, it was as simple as that; she wasn't in the position of power to refute any judgement he made, no matter how much she disagreed with them personally._

_"Yes, brother. Bujing's plan was stupid." she confirmed, "It was so stupid, that you, a patriotic and loyal prince of your nation, had to call out that stupidity."_

_He trembled with fear, unable to accept what she was saying, "B-but, father-" he began to mumble, Azula cutting her brother off with a hand._

_"Father didn't like your outburst- he found it disrespectful. He has the right to object to your actions, and as a firebender, challenge you to an Agni Kai because of it." she rationalised his actions, "He is not wrong, but you are not wrong either." she simplified her own argument._

_"Why are you telling me this?" he asked her, seemingly concerned for how she had come to the conclusion she had._

_"Because you need to know that you aren't as big a moron as you think you are."_

_He chuckled at her rather funny wording, and seeing that small smile on his face assured her that not all hope was lost; if her brother lost his drive, his will to fight, then what was the point of all of her training, all of her advice. She desired to shape the perfect heir of the Fire Nation, far more effectively than her father might have by scarring him in a poor excuse of an Agni Kai._

_"Uh- thanks... I guess." he acknowledged, still seeming uncertain of himself and what she had just said; he couldn't accept it in one foul swoop, because that would likely make him even angrier than he ought to be._

_"I know this probably wasn't the goodbye you were expecting... I thought it was the one you needed." she declared, confident that her conversation would help her brother for the better, and keep him looking forward rather than down in the mud._

_Suddenly her brother reached over and hugged her, tightly at that; she didn't expect such a move from him, thinking that he was too uneasy, but perhaps her words had calmed him more than she had thought._

_"You're a good sister... sometimes." he acknowledged with a chuckle, the Princess pushing him forcefully away of him._

_"Yes- and hugging is not my thing. Got it?" she scowled at him, frustrated by his incessant lovey-ness; if he wanted to out himself as a weakling, he was doing a good job of it._

_"Ah, yes- sorry." he nodded, his eyes turning sad, before he scowled with determination looking out to the evening sun and his uncle, who stood awaiting him, ready to begin their march to the port where they would take a boat to leave the Fire Nation, "I guess this is goodbye." he admitted, the Princess chuckling, thinking how they might next meet._

_"I hope I don't have to go running around the world to look for you or something. You'll be smart out there, right?" she asked him rhetorically, Zuko glancing with a rather stoic face of confidence, that alone assuring her that he agreed._

_"I will capture the Avatar, and I will return... one day." he simply told her, placing a hand on her shoulder, looking rather saddened as he acknowledged a truth, "You'll be a good Crown Princess in the meantime." making her smirk confidently as she playfully punched his shoulder._

_"That's right, Zuzu."_

* * *

Hiding behind a rock, Suki held her fans ready, knowing that their purposefully lit campfire would attract Fire Nation scouts; their plan could fall through, but they had the advantage of being surrounded by practically uninhabited countryside where they could easily survive on their own wits. She didn't think the plan would fail however, feeling confident that she and the girls could handle any soldiers that came their way; they might expect earthbending rebels or maybe even some peasants, but not highly skilled hand-to-hand experts. Firebending, in the end, was the easiest form of bending for them to counter; she for one preferred the expectation of fighting one of them over an earthbender or a waterbender, who she had had no practice fighting, nor any real way to defend against their power. Amari and Nakata sat behind another rock a few paces across from her, and Sawa and Esumi were hiding behind separate rocks on the other side of the campfire, ready to flank the enemy when they arrived; she smirked when she made sight of Fire Nation soldiers, walking in file toward the campfire, weapons and hands ready- the majority of the men she could see weren't benders, which gave them an edge already. To her surprise, there actually was a woman amongst the ranks of the soldiers, something she hadn't seen in her encounters with the Fire Nation; she guessed that female soldiers were rare in the front line forces, and that was why she hadn't seen one until now.

"It seems like there's no one here." she heard one of the soldiers grumble, seemingly annoyed that he hadn't caught the warriors in the act, "But the fire was started recently."

"Maybe some Earth Kingdom scouts from Ba Sing Se? They might have left just after dawn." one of the other soldiers suggested.

"They'd be pretty stupid to camp right here. For all we know it was some of those darn peasant hunters. They're always getting too close to the base for the Colonel's liking." another argued, the soldiers humming off in agreement.

"Nice guesses, but you're all wrong." she heard Amari mockingly call out, and a few moments later the sound of thumping noises as Esumi and Sawa threw their fans at two soldiers who were at the back of the group.

"What the fuck is going on?!" one of the soldiers shouted out, confused where the attacks had come from; taking advantage of their disorientation, Suki, Nakata and Amari raced out from behind their rocks.

Running up toward one of the soldiers, who from the look of his armour was a firebender, the head warrior jabbed him with a retracted fan, making him wince in pain before he reflexively shot a fire ball out of his hand; she ducked under the burst of flames before opening both fans, blocking another attempt to burn her with his bend. She smirked confidently, forcing his arm down when he tried to fire a stream of flames at her, before whacking him in the forehead with her fan, hitting him to the ground in a daze. Before he could return to his feet, she jabbed him with a fist to the side of the head; an attack that wouldn't be lethal, but would hurt like any other, and keep him down for long enough for to deal with rest of the soldiers. Glancing to her side, she noted that Amari and Nakata had already dealt with their own opponents, with three conscious soldiers remaining, already preoccupied with Sawa and Esumi, who were tactically using a pincer tactic to force their enemies together.

"Damn these dirt-eaters." she heard the female soldier grumble, drawing out a jian sword, ready to fight the trio of Kyoshi Warriors that was approaching her, "Are none of you competent?!" she shouted at her barely conscious comrades who had already been beaten down by the warriors swift strikes.

The sword-bearing soldier raced forward to attack them, taking the initiative to swing her blade at Amari, successfully knocking a fan out of her hand; before she could strike her jian down on the nearly defenceless warrior, Nakata jumped forth with her katana to defend her comrade, blocking the enemy's blade. Suki threw a retracted fan at the back of the jian wielding soldier, who winced from the blow, turning around with an infuriated glare.

"You!" she pointed at her with her blade with unbridled fury, before she raced forward, the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors casually smiling at her as if nothing had happened.

"Oh, me?" she asked jokingly, making herself seem unprepared when the jian blade was thrust in her direction; however, she was simply playing a part, easily sidestepping the jab before hammering the sword out of her opponent's hand with her fan.

Before her opponent could react, she retracted her fan and jabbed her right in the diaphragm, leaving her breathless; without much strength, she was able to simply push the Fire Nation soldier over, leaving her lying in the dirt, cringing as she tried to catch a breath. Now with the seemingly skilled swords-woman out of the way, Suki turned to face the last two soldiers, who were preoccupied with trying to ward Sawa and Esumi off with spears; they had done it effectively enough, but they didn't have much time to flee, if that was their plan. The other three Kyoshi Warriors approached them from behind, and the head warrior called out, having a better idea that trying to chop their spears up.

"Hey, you two! You can just surrender, you know." she jested to the soldiers, who glanced back fearfully, seeing themselves surrounded by Kyoshi Warriors and the rest of the comrades beat to the ground.

The two soldiers tensed for a moment before dropping their spears, Sawa and Esumi now freely walking up toward them with their retracted fans ready; Suki looked at them almost with pity, "Sorry, this'll probably hurt." she admitted, before the two men were simultaneously knocked out by being struck in the head with retracted fans.

Glancing about, she realised that they had achieved their first small victory in their path toward freeing the Earth Kingdom villagers who had been forced to labour against their will, and from the seems of it, against their country.

Amari pumped a fist into the air, "Oh, yeah. No one messes with the Kyoshi Warriors." she proudly declared, Esumi looking at her with confusion.

"But, Amari, we ambushed them." she raised a finger, the other warrior rolling her eyes, dismissing such a suggestion that might make their victory any less magnificent in her own eyes.

"Like that's important. Remember the last ambush we were in- the Fire Nation got us. It's only fair that we repaid the favour." she smirked, before Nakata cleared her throat, pointing down to the soldiers.

"So- are we going to, uh- you know, steal their uniforms now?" she asked, the head warrior opening her eyes, realising what they would actually have to do.

"I recommend you make sure they're properly unconscious if you're taking their clothes. No one wants to be consciously stripped of their clothes." she acknowledged, hearing a fearful voice behind her.

"Stripped?! What are you bitches doing?" she heard the swords-woman exclaim in fear, Amari turning around, readying her fan.

"Uh, boss, should I," she made a motion imitating knocking someone over the head, "you know?"

Suki simply nodded, before glancing back at the Fire Nation soldier, "This is as bad as you think it is." she honestly told her, making the soldier scamper back in fear, as most violent of their group approached her with a devious smirk; she wasn't going to stop her friend from giving a Fire Nation soldier a beat-down, for no reason other than having been called a bitch and a dirt-eater.

* * *

Amari realised that she far preferred the stupid looking armour they had been wearing at Full Moon Bay than to the disguise she had stolen from an unconscious Fire Nation soldier; the outfit was a man's anyway, so it was already clunkier and heavier than it ought to have been, and the pure disgust of wearing the armour of the enemy made her belch. As they approached the walls of the Fire Nation compound that sat nearby their massive construction, she tensed up, hoping that she and the other warriors could pull a decent act of being Fire Nation soldiers; her armour must have been from a firebender, as it covered her face with a skull mask; if she wasn't so lean in her frame, she might have been able to pretend to be a man, although she doubted they'd care or notice for her sex. The Fire Nation was supposedly less sexist than the other nations, and that was according to Iroh, who despite being a kind old man, wasn't necessarily an unbiased source of information on his nation's culture; if there was one thing the ash-makers loved to do, it was shit on the other nation's cultures and values, although she wouldn't dare conflate the old Dragon of the West with that, being the golden-hearted man he was. She pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind as the group filed up toward the tall steel gates that led into the compound; they opened after a few moments of them standing in front of them, and were greeted by a few Fire Nation soldiers, who were dressed down in terms of their armour, but still seemed to be on duty.

"Thanks for opening the gates." Suki introduced herself, "Me and my squad were patrolling out up north but were attacked by damn earthbenders- this was the closest base we could find." she explained, the soldiers looking at them all with interest.

"Huh, you're pretty clean after a fight like that." one of them admitted, Nakata stepping forward to try and bullshit an argument in response.

"We weren't attacked ourselves, but our friends- we got separated after the earthbenders... well they ripped up the ground." she tried to explain away their relative cleanliness.

"Sounds like you guys haven't been having the best week." another soldier acknowledged, "Protocol says we should take you in for some resupply and a debrief, correct?"

Suki nodded, even though she probably didn't know if that was the right answer, "Of course. Command needs to be notified of these rebels. They need to be crushed." she hammered her hand into her fist; the soldiers seemed to approve of her serious act, or at the very least, they didn't seem suspicious of it.

"Well, I hope some of us get reassigned to deal with 'em. This posting has been more boring than in the colonies; nothing ever happens here- and if it is, it's only damn kids or something mucking about." the first soldier noted, sounding rather aggrieved with his situation.

"Good luck with that. I'd prefer bratty kids over getting crushed with a rock." Amari joked, trying to get along as well as she could with their sense of humour; to her surprise, the soldiers laughed along with her joke.

"That's a good one!" a soldier bellowed out, patting her on the shoulder, "This one's smarter than you, Kura!"

Kura glanced at his comrades and frowned with frustration, obviously offended by the suggestion that he was an idiot, before he waved his hand, indicating for the Kyoshi Warriors to follow, "Well, come on then, I'm sure you can get a little rest at our barracks before your debrief; I'll got get Colonel Tazuna to debrief you all." he explained to the warriors, who all nodded before following him and the other soldiers down through the campsite.

Amari walked up beside Suki, who glanced at her masked face for a moment before whispering, "The armoury." she simply told her with no context.

Standing beside her boss, she kept pace before coughing, giving her a response in between her coughs, "For breakout?"

"For the villagers." the head warrior corrected, making her smirk in understanding.

She had to go find some weapons to give to the villagers; if they could contribute to breaking out of the compound, it would save them the effort of fighting so many soldiers by themselves. As the group walked on along the path through the compound, she made sight of a little nook between two buildings she could hide in, and glanced to Suki, who nodded at her as they confirmed their plan; she didn't know what her boss would do, but she guessed well enough it'd be a good enough plan to let her slip away. Unsurprisingly, the head warrior initiated the plan just after Amari began to slip back within the group, tripping over her own foot and shouting out in pain; whether it was legitimate or not, she didn't know, but the point was that it distracted the Fire Nation soldiers with them, giving her the opportunity to slip into the gap between the buildings and race on through, disappearing from the field of view of the group. The fact she heard no responses or anyone looking down the gap assured her that their plan worked, and she moved out the other side, quickly scanning around the area to look for the armoury that ought to exist; she could see a number of long halls that she assumed to be housing the labourers, as well as a mess hall that distinctively sat out as being a much larger building than any of the other individual ones. Turning around she made sight of a number of military buildings, including a tall tower than she assumed was a watchtower, but realised there was no people standing up top, rather a few large birds of prey perched up on it's ledges; she spotted what looked to be a large brick and steel building, and she assumed that it was the one she was looking for, as it was built into the ground and looked to be relatively secure.

"Gotcha." she told herself, beginning to approach the building, keeping an eye out for any guards; she assumed that the majority of them would be watching over the labourers and their massive construction rather than a few dusty halls.

She realised as she neared the building she assumed to be armoury, which was confirmed by the sign that entitled it, clearly emblazoned above it's steel doors as well as another sign; she pushed on the heavy doors and noted that they were locked, something that didn't surprise her. How she would get in was another question, but Amari knew she was capable of figuring something like that out before the Fire Nation soldiers realised there was a person missing from the group. Turning around she noticed a soldier walking up along one of the paths that crossed throughout the compound, probably on patrol; he wasn't a bender, wearing the ordinary peaked helmet and bearing a spear, so she knew she could handle him in a fight if need be.

He looked at her with confusion, "Is something wrong?" he asked her, the warrior deciding she ought to wing it and play dumb.

"I forgot my damn key into the armoury." she admitted, or rather, she lied, "My boots are too tight and I need a replacement. I can't be walking around the damn place with shitty shoes." she made an excuse for being at the armoury, the soldier's eyes widening before he gave her a sympathetic smile.

"I know that feeling." he acknowledged, tapping his helmet, "I remember when I first joined up I had a helmet that was too tight, and I thought I was going to go insane."

She laughed along to his anecdote, smiling under her mask, even if he couldn't see it, trying to act as 'cool' as possible, "Yeah- so could you help me out?" she asked, tapping on the metal door, the soldier smiling back at her.

"Sure, just let me find the right key. The key-chains are damn complicated here." he admitted, shuffling through a ring full of keys, trying to find the specific one for the armoury.

A few moments later he gave her a smile, showing in his hand that he had the right key; she smiled at him brightly, "Thanks a lot. I thought I'd have to go all the way back to the barracks to get my keys." she thanked him, the soldier smiling at her before giving her a curt wave.

"No problem. See you around." he simply fare-welled, eyeing her for a moment before she entered the armoury; as she closed the door behind her, she checked to make sure the soldier was leaving her alone, and to her relief, he began to walk away after a few seconds of standing about.

As she walked into the dark building, she noted that her face was covered in sweat from wearing her helmet; she pulled it and the skull mask off, letting her dark hair flow down her shoulders, sighing as she wiped the sweat from her forehead. Scanning about the building, she looked around for weapons that she could collect for use by some villagers; she knew that clubs and axes tended to be the easiest weapons for any person to wield, but she realised that the Fire Nation didn't use these weapons in their arsenal. Scanning about the rows and racks of weapons, she eyed off a variety of jian and dao broadswords, a large quantity of spears, as well as a variety of other weapons, such as hand grenades, bows, arrows and daggers. She decided the best weapons for their potential allies would be some swords, and grabbed a bunch of jians from a rack, noting that she couldn't reasonably carry them all without getting cut. She pulled out some rope that she always had at hand, ready to capture her opponents if need be, and tied it around some sword hilts, before tying around the other end of the swords, bundling them together like a fasces.

She smirked at the sight of the bundle of weapons she had gathered, holding them in her arms as she walked back toward the front door of the armoury, but was interrupted by the door suddenly swinging open, light pouring into the room; when her eyes readjusted to the light, she realised it was the soldier, who had caught her dead in the act.

"Huh, you're prettier than I thought you'd be." he mumbled under his breath, before shaking her head, scowling at her, "What are you doing with those swords?! You said you were looking for boots!" he exclaimed with a clearly suspicious voice.

She remained silent for a moment, ignoring his comment about her looks and deciding she needed to do something, and fast at that; dropping the swords to the ground, she distracted his eyes for a moment, taking the few seconds she had to grasp a fan from her belt, tossing it as hard as she could at the soldier's head. He was hit with a glancing blow to the side of the head, and as he shouted in pain, it became apparent she hadn't knocked him out; he thrust his spear in her direction, the Kyoshi Warrior throwing a fist down on the spear with full force, knocking the weapon out of his hands.

"You're one of them!" he exclaimed in a furious voice, declaring her an enemy of the Fire Nation, something she already clearly defined herself as.

He grit his teeth, racing at her to tackle, dropping her to the ground; with her opponent on top of her and her armour's weight already a clear disadvantage, she was left practically defenceless. Instead of trying to throw him off her, she instead spat in his face, getting her right arm loose and throwing a fist into his face; the hit was far more direct than the one she had made with her fan, and he was dazed after the strike. Pushing him off her, she grabbed her other fan before jabbing him hard in the back of the head with it, his unconscious body collapsing beside her. Her chest heaving, she rolled her eyes with frustration as she tried to lift herself back to her own feet, knowing that she had a far more important thing to do than beat up random Fire Nation soldiers; she was going to free a bunch of prisoners, and then she was going to demand they made her tea- it was the least they could do for her.

* * *

As she sat down on a table in the Fire Nation soldier's barracks, Suki felt somewhat uneasy; being around so many potential enemies made her feel as if she was one misstep away from being imprisoned or worse. The Fire Nation soldiers they were conversing with seemed to be friendly enough, but that was only because they believed them to be fellow soldiers, not infiltrators who wanted to subvert their entire operation; she didn't feel guilty however, knowing exactly how badly the Fire Nation treated her fellow countrymen, who practically forced into slavery by threat against their lives.

"What's the whole deal with this place anyway?" she heard Nakata ask, the head of the unit present, Captain Kura, looking at her suspiciously.

"Huh- we aren't actually told. Supposedly some top-secret thing being constructed by War Minister Qin; no one but the Colonel knows squat, not that I care much about it anyway. It's just a stationing in the middle of nowhere." he simply told them, his casual tone and the nodding of his comrades indicating that he was telling the truth.

"Sounds like it's important." Suki commented, the Captain and his men looking at her with interest.

"Well, it probably is, seeing how big the thing is." he admitted, "Doubt it'll do much, we've been at war for a hundred years, and nothing we've done has been able to truly destroy the Earth Kingdom." he acknowledged, making her curl her lips in thought; her people were a stubborn lot, and because of it, they had survived a hundred years in a war of attrition against the odds.

"Yeah, they don't give up. At least these workers are a pretty docile bunch; I thought we'd be dealing with prison breaks, but this place is as secure as the damn Boiling Rock." another soldier explained, the soldiers all laughing at the last bit; she had no idea what the Boiling Rock was, but from the name alone, she guessed it wasn't a very nice place.

Suddenly she heard what she thought to be an explosion in the distance; she rose from the bench she was sitting on, realising that what she heard could have been an accident or it could have been her friend, who specifically agreed that they weren't going to try and blow up the Fire Nation construction. A siren went of a few moments later, indicating that something serious had occurred, and she was almost certain her friend had something to do with it.

"What the-" she mumbled, Kura rising to his feet at once, a confident glare on his face.

"We're under attack!" he exclaimed, looking to his men, who all got ready, "Are you all ready for a fight?" he asked her, the Kyoshi Warrior smirking confidently, knowing that he had no idea what was about to happen.

"Oh, trust me. We're always ready." she assured him, the soldier nodding before he and his men began to race on out of the barrack common room, toward the front door; the Kyoshi Warriors followed from behind, all eyeing each other, probably all thinking the same thing.

"What the hell is Amari doing?" Sawa asked her with a whisper, the head warrior shrugging her shoulders.

"Whatever she did, it's obviously caught their attention." she acknowledged, glancing back forward to eye the Fire Nation soldiers as they made their way out of the barracks outside, glancing around the compound for wherever the explosion originated from.

She made sight of a smokestack nearby, near one of the halls that she assumed housed the Earth Kingdom labourers; the group immediately raced forward toward it, Suki glancing at her comrades momentarily, knowing that they would need to do something soon enough. Turning a corner around a hall, she made sight of what exploded; a portion of the metal wall had been blown to bits, and in front of the hole stool Amari without her helmet, surrounded by Earth Kingdom men bearing jian swords.

"W-wait a minute... that girl- she's a helping them escape." one of the soldiers exclaimed; glancing about, Suki realised that the labourers must have all just gone for their lunch break, as they were suddenly all about, looking at the soldiers fearfully.

"She's helping them escape?" Nakata questioned, before she began to laugh, the bellowing catching the attention of all of the soldiers present.

"What's so funny?" Kura questioned her accusingly, the Kyoshi warrior wiping tears of laughter from her eyes, before she smirked at him confidently.

"You're all so stupid." she simply told them, the words indicating for the Kyoshi Warriors to reveal themselves.

Suki pulled out the stolen jian, immediately swinging it at the helmet of the soldier nearest to her, who was caught unaware by the attack; the blade glanced him, although he crumpled down unconscious as he was flung to the ground. She immediately turned around a blocked an incoming sword blow from one of the soldiers, before she kneed him in the gut, and swiftly spun her sword around to hit her opponent in the forehead with the hilt. As he fell down, barely conscious, she stood over him triumphantly, the enemy leader looking at her fearfully, realising that he was dealing with something far worse than a simple prison breakout.

"Who the fuck are you?" the Captain exclaimed with fear, the warriors smirking as they gave his comrades a beating.

"Your worst nightmare!" Nakata exclaimed, throwing a fan at him, which he tried to block with a firebending attack; the defence failed miserably, the soldier being struck square in the forehead and thrown the ground.

Realising that he was probably the most competent in the group, Suki raced toward the soldier as he tried to return to his feet, greeting him with a swift kick to the head, blood splattering out of his mouth as he groaned in pain.

"Now, girls, let's break these people out." she smirked at her comrades as she stood above her defeated opponent with her jian sword ready; turning to face the understandably fearful labourers who looked on in awe as they beat the daylights out of a group of Fire Nation soldiers, she raised her hands, trying to seem as peaceful as she could, "We're not Fire Nation. We're here to break you out." she assured them, pointing to the hole in the wall that Amari had created, "Pick up a weapon if you like. You may need one." she suggested, before she began to race forward down the path.

She and the warriors were quick on their feet, immediately forgetting about the soldiers they had dealt with when they made sight of a squad of firebenders; Amari was holding them off with the help of some labourers, but they weren't professional fighters like themselves, and were quickly falling to the powerful fire blasts being sent their way.

"Hey! Pick on someone your own size!" the head warrior called out to the soldiers, who turned their way, obviously confused by people dressed as Fire Nation soldiers coming to attack them; relieved that she had distracted them from the weaker labourers, who then had an opportunity to escape, she raced forward, readying her blade, knowing that they'd be in for a tougher fight.

One of the firebenders stepped forward, sending a stream of flames her way, to which she rolled under it before grabbing a fan from her belt; she realised their helmets would prevent her fans from knocking them out on the spot, so she had to improvise her attack. As he approached her, she threw the fan at the unsuspecting soldier, hitting him in the gut, winding him and deprieving him of the source of his bending- his breath; she had heard Iroh ramble on about firebending basics to Zuko enough times to be aware of how their power worked. He gasped for air, stepping back from her fearfully as she approached him with her jian ready; although she wasn't as used to the weight of the blade as her katana, she knew she could improvise using it. He sent out a short blast in her direction, the Kyoshi Warrior slicing the attack away, before kicking him straight in shin, the firebender crying out in pain before he sent a fireball her way; it hit her in the shoulder, but to her luck, Fire Nation armour was for the most part repellent of flames, meaning that she didn't get injured. Smirking back at her opponent she hit him in the head with the hilt of her blade before swinging it down on his legs, cutting them and forcing him to the ground; with her enemy prone, she accepted that he was defeated, and turned around trying to make sure everything was going to plan. She was suddenly hit in the back by a fire ball, throwing her off her feet, although she broke her fall with her sword; falling to her side she glanced up to see a firebender approaching her, ready to set her face alight; Suki grabbed her thrown fan from the ground, immediately drawing it out, using it block a fireball that tried to hit her head, although it still singed her fingers. Cringing from the pain, she still tried to return to her feet, but was struck by another fireball, this time in her side, where her armour wasn't as covering; forced down to the ground once more, she clenched her hand on the jian's hilt, ready to chop at her opponent's hands if that was what it took to defeat them. A fireball was sent her way, and she cut through it, although the flames still passed over, singing the top of her head lightly; Suki decided to throw her sword, realising she didn't have any better choice when she was barely able to stand up without being hit again. The blade swung out, flying through another attack of flames, and obviously hit her enemy, who yelped with pain as it struck them; the Kyoshi Warrior returned to her feet, readying her two fans as she prepared to deal with them. She realised, however, that her opponent had already been defeated, Amari standing over their unconscious body, and her jian blade sitting to the side, never having hit her enemy; she smiled at the arrival of her friend, who offered a hand to help her up.

"Come on, boss. Let's get out of here." she offered her, the head warrior glancing about to see that the labourers were all running through the hole up toward the hills, making her sigh with relief, "We did it, and we dealt a big blow to our enemies."

Suki nodded, before she glanced to her side, eyeing the massive structure that the Fire Nation was building, "Even if we defeated them, we didn't stop them from making that." she admitted, the other warrior shaking her head as she placed her arm over her shoulder, helping her along as they made their way toward the gaping hole in the wall.

"It doesn't matter. It's not we could have done anything to it anyway." she admitted, making her raise a brow at her friend.

"Well, you blew this wall up, didn't you?" she asked, Amari shaking her head.

"Yeah, with six hand grenades that I struggled to carry here." she explained to her superior, who chuckled at her explanation.

"Oh, that's what you were wasting our time doing." she suggested, the other warrior frowning at her.

"It wasn't a waste of time. Look at the results." she pointed to the fleeing labourers through the hole, making Suki smile back at her.

"We did a good job today, girls." she assured them, the Kyoshi Warriors all walking along together out of the Fire Nation compound, feeling confident in their victory and each other's company.

* * *

War Minister Qin seemed rather tense for a man with supreme power over the construction of the greatest weapon the Fire Nation had ever constructed, but Crown Princess Azula wasn't concerned for his feelings, but rather for his information. When she arrived at the construction site for the drill that was designed to break through the walls of Ba Sing Se, she wasn't expecting the utter chaos she received; the compound next to the construction site was full of unconscious and injured Fire Nation soldiers who had supposedly been defeated by a break out of Earth Kingdom labourers that they had forced to work on the construction of the drill. She wanted the whole story, because as the Crown Princess, she had grown quite an affinity to finding and hunting down the enemies of the Fire Nation; the Avatar was the obvious enemy at all times, but that did not mean there was other threats lurking about.

"Please, explain to me again how you lost your entire labour force in the span of an afternoon?" she asked him, the War Minister gulping fearfully as he obviously tried to come up with a reasoned answer.

"The head of the troops, Colonel Tazuna, explained to me that a group of his soldiers were attacked by individuals dressed in Fire Nation soldier's outfits. They must have broken out the labourers, and escaped with them." he explained, giving her a little bit more information, making her curl her lips.

"You're telling me the loyal soldiers of our nation were defeated by a bunch of impostors?" she questioned in clarification, to which he was forced to nod, acknowledging the pitiful truth.

"Well then, we ought to find out more about this attack. So we can prevent it, and if possible, rid ourselves of this threat." she smirked, the War Minister giving her a tense, fearful smile of assertion.

"Of course, you can speak to some of the soldiers yourself; they're in the infirmary, just down there." he pointed down the path through the compound, the Princess spotting a building with a clear sign that made it out as the infirmary.

"My associates and I will see to that. If any news comes in, I want to be the first to know about it, understood?" she asked him, the clearly uncomfortable man nodding along.

"Yes, of course, your highness." he assured her before she, Mai and Ty Lee began to walk on along toward the infirmary; Ty Lee skipped on forward, leaning her head in front of her own, obviously wanting to ask her something.

"So, Zula, what do you think happened?" she asked, curious for opinion; the Princess had the best opinions, after all.

"I assume some smart people broke into this place with a stupid idea. Why would anyone want to break out a bunch of labourers anyway? The Earth Kingdom Army doesn't bother with doing things like that." she considered, raising a finger to her chin, "My best guess is that these people wanted to free them because they're a bunch of self-righteous morons, just like the Avatar and his lackeys."

Mai huffed a breath and glanced at her, "How exactly does one even steal Fire Nation uniforms anyway- it's pretty hard for anyone to break into a place like this, let alone steal people's clothes?" she asked a pretty straight-forward question, which didn't surprise her at all.

"Now that you mention it, that is quite unusual." she acknowledged, smirking at her friend, "Perhaps they were stolen off more vulnerable soldiers. That's why we've got ask these soldiers." she simply told her, the stoic girl raising a finger.

"Interrogate." she corrected her, making her chuckle at her specificity.

"That is correct." she agreed, smiling deviously as the trio arrived at the front door of the infirmary, the Princess pushing the doors open abruptly, surprising those standing inside the foyer.

"Princess Azula!" a medic exclaimed, "It is an honour to have you in our presence." he deferred, he and his comrades bowing to her respectfully.

She waved a hand, not caring for their respect at that moment, more concerned about her immediate goal, "Enough pleasantries. I need to speak to the soldiers who were injured by the impostor attackers." she asked of them, the medics nodding.

"Right this way." one of them pointed, leading them down a hall to a doorway; peering through she saw a room where a number of soldiers sat about, a number of them covered with bandages, although the majority of them seemed to have mostly superficial injuries.

"Which of you spoke with the impostors?" she simply asked of the injured soldiers, a few raising their hands.

"Uh, we- it was us, we were the ones who let them in." a soldier told her, the Princess raising a brow, approaching him.

"Excuse me, you let them in?" she asked in clarification, the soldier nodding.

"Uh, yes, your highness. From the looks of them, they were ordinary soldiers, and they had a reasonable cover story." he admitted, Azula scratching at her nose in thought.

"Hmph- who were they- tell me about them." she requested of the soldier, who looked at her with surprise about how much attention he was receiving.

"Um- it was a group of five. All girls, I think." he explained, the Princess scratching a chin.

"Why weren't you suspicious of that in the first place. Do you not know how rare it is for women to be serving on the front lines?" she asked, the soldier nodding; one of men beside him snickered.

"Yeah, as I said prior, Captain- you're a bit stupid." he mocked him, who glared at his comrade with a snarl.

"Shut up." he demanded, the Princess crossing her arms at him.

"No, your friend is right, you're pretty damn stupid for letting them in." she acknowledged with little emotion, making his eyes widen before she turned her heels, "Did anyone see them without their disguises?" she clarified, a hand raising in the corner of the room; she glanced and noticed the hand belonging to a woman who had bruises on her arms and face.

"W-wait, what?" she heard the soldier she had just talked to gasp, obviously surprised that anyone had witnessed them without their disguises.

"Y-yeah, I did." the female soldier told her, the Princess raising a brow; her presumption was turned on her head as lo and behold a woman on the front lines sat before her, injured in the line of duty.

"What did they look like then?" she asked, the soldier huffing a breath.

"Wearing the enemies colour; they're some kind of soldiers, they have to be." she explained, the Princess nodding along.

"Did you catch any specifics?" she asked, the soldier furrowing a brow, her bruised left eye wincing shut as she took a moment to think.

"Ah, yeah. They wore face-paint, like they were actors in a play or something." she explained, the Princess's eyes widening; she knew of female Earth Kingdom soldiers who wore face-paint- the very ones that her brother was working with.

"Was it the Kyoshi Warriors?" Ty Lee asked, already ahead of her, leaning forward to get close to the soldier, who seemed uncomfortable.

"U-uh, the who?" she asked, Azula rolling her eyes; why would they reveal their names to their enemies?

"We can assume it was. They were just south of the West Lake a week or two ago, weren't they?" she asked her friends, whose eyes narrowed in consideration, "Wait- were they all women?" she clarified to the soldier, who nodded with a tense glare.

"Yeah, bitches, the whole lot of 'em." she growled, the Princess smirking at her informant.

"Thank you, very much. Your words have saved me a lot of trouble." she explained, before she turned to her friends, "This is exactly what we've been waiting for."

"What?" Mai asked her, "To defeat Zuko's friends?" she asked, the Princess shaking her head, her glare as confident as ever.

"To find a way to get Zuko to our side."


	32. The Drill

_"You know, it's probably going to harder than just climbing over a wall."_

_Azula scowled at her brother's suggestion, thinking otherwise when it came to her planned conquest of Ba Sing Se; she knew the Earth Kingdom were tough and stubborn lot, but they didn't seem to be so bright. If she could scale the wall and use a small force to cause chaos, she could give the Fire Nation's armies opportune time to take the walls themselves._

_"My plan is sufficient to destroy the Earth Kingdom. You just wait." she crossed her arms, the Crown Prince rolling his eyes at her confidence; he probably thought it was misplaced, but she denied such a possibility- she hadn't learnt about the history of the Great War simply to become an armchair historian, she desired to use that knowledge to end it._

_He snickered at her, waving a hand dismissively, "Okay, I'd like to see you scale a wall and not be crushed by a bunch of earthebenders." he told her, the Princess raising a brow at him._

_"You know, brother, that's a little insensitive." she suggested, his eyes widening, obviously not considering what had happened to their cousin at the walls of Ba Sing Se._

_"I didn't mean it like that. Lu Ten died in the push through the walls, not trying to get over it." he explained, the Princess shrugging her shoulders._

_"Eh, it's all the same. I don't plan to have that happen to me." she assured him, the Prince looking back at her with a grimace._

_"For one, that's a big promise to make, and I really don't want you to go out of the way to risk your life like that. You can serve the Fire Nation in other ways, can you not?" he asked her, the Princess scratching at her chin._

_"You are right, Zuzu, but this is something that I need to do." she argued, her brother rolling his his at her antics._

_"You know, it's not the war we should be worrying about." he acknowledged, "What about what comes after? Even if we destroy any resistance, and all the nations become one, we have to have a plan."_

_"To spread prosperity and the greatness of the Fire Nation." she raised a finger, smirking confidently as she quoted the teachings and wisdoms of their ancestor, Fire Lord Sozin._

_Zuko rolled his eyes at the obviousness of her answer, having gone to school and learnt all the same things that she had to learn herself, "Yeah, I know that. I'm thinking more... uh- practically?"_

_She scoffed at his awkward attempt to try and get her to give him some advice that he might find useful when he took the throne, "Well, Zuzu. There's a lot of things involved in running the Fire Nation. That's why the Fire Lord has all of his ministries to deal with that stuff." she raised a finger, the Prince scratching his chin._

_"Huh, I guess you're right." he mumbled, Azula smirking back at him confidently._

_"Aha, what did I tell you? I'm always right." she declared to her brother, who leaned back in the desk chair he had taken to sitting in; their grandfather's study was quite the abode for them to use as a hideout of sorts._

_"Well, I'd like to see you be the conqueror of Ba Sing Se. It'd be the craziest thing ever for a kid to do it." he admitted with wide eyes, probably contemplating the thought of Azula as she was racing in and taking over the biggest city in the world._

_"It's not that crazy, Zuzu. In a few years time, I'll be old enough to fight, and then I'll be old enough to lead men into battle." she smirked, "Do you doubt that I could do that when am already the greatest firebender in the world."_

_He broke down laughing at her suggestion, "Bahahaha! What?! Greatest firebender in the world?! Pfft- yeah right. You might be tough, but you're still eleven." he mocked her claim, the Princess scowling at her brother, pointing a finger onto his sternum, nearly pushing his chair over as she leaned toward him._

_"You doubt my abilities, brother? I can test them right now." she grinned at him with a desire to show him who was the better bender; he didn't seem to approve, gritting his teeth and grimacing in fear._

_"N-no-no! That's not what I meant. I mean you can't beat father." he clarified, the Princess smirking at him._

_"Not now, but one day, I'll be able to do it." she declared, the Prince's eyes widening, realising that she was serious in her declarations._

_"Just like you'll conquer Ba Sing Se?" he asked her sarcastically, the Princess clenching a fist at her brother._

_"No- father will be easier than Ba Sing Se, dummy." she told him, "But I will take Ba Sing Se, and when I do, I'll wipe that smug look off your face."_

_He raised his hands defensively, "Well, okay... but a man can have his doubts." he argued, the Princess twitching at the proverbial way in which he described his thoughts._

_"Speak like Uncle again and I'll burn your tongue." she demanded, the Prince chuckling, not taking her threat seriously._

_"Ah come on, admit it, it was funny." he opened his arms, Azula crossing her own._

_"Urgh- fine. It was a little funny." he mumbled in confession, her brother winking at her, savouring his small victory in actually getting her to agree that he wasn't a complete sourpuss._

_"Now, brother, can you actually consider my plan instead of caring about things as trivial as safety?" she asked him, leaning in again, the Prince leaning back as she neared him uncomfortably._

_"Uh, I guess it's a decent plan, but I would have to see it in action to see it's worth." he admitted, the Princess raising a fist confidently, standing above her brother, who glanced up as she declared her intentions._

_"I, Princess Azula of the Fire Nation, swear, that will prove that I am the greatest strategist of all time."_

* * *

"This drill is a feat of scientific ingenuity and raw destructive power. Once it tunnels through the wall, our troops will storm their city. The Earth Kingdom will finally fall, and you can claim Ba Sing Se in the name your father. Nothing can stop us."

Princess Azula smirked confidently, agreeing with War Minister Qin's sentiment; nothing could stop them from taking down the Earth Kingdom, not even the Avatar himself. Sitting high in the command module of the massive drill, she could make sight of the Outer Wall of Ba Sing Se, which was getting closer to them by the minute. Beside her, Ty Lee was eyeing down to the ground through a periscope, before she pointed down toward a group of men she spotted.

"Hmmm, what about those muscly guys down there?" she asked him, the War Minister looking at her with a dismissive glare; the Princess rolled her eyes at her friends interruption into his exposition, although she did find the timing to quite humorous.

What she found funnier was when he hit the periscope roughly, frightening the usually sharp and observant acrobat flinching back, before he argued against her suggestion, "Please. The drill's metal shell is impervious t any earthbending attack."

Azula sat casually in her throne-like seat, playing with her fingers as she considered Ty Lee's thoughts; she believed herself that any threat, no matter how small, should be dealt with.

"Oh, I'm sure it is, War Minister Qin," she agreed with him, "but just to be on the safe side... Mai and Ty Lee, take the earthbenders out!"

Mai sighed with relief, "Finally, something to do." before she rose to her feet, her and Ty Lee walking out of the room to head to the elevator.

She smirked confidently seeing her friends do her bidding with no question, and when she caught eyes with Qin, he immediately glanced away and turned to focus ahead of them toward the Outer Wall of Ba Sing Se. Sitting around for a minute, she avidly awaited her friends arrival as the earthbending soldiers feebly attempted to strike the drill's outer shell, to no avail, just as the War Minister had told her; but soon enough, her two friends appeared in the view of the periscope, using a rope to slide down the side of the drill while Mai threw her daggers at the enemies. The earthbenders were fast enough to pull up walls to block her weapons, but as soon as Ty Lee hit the ground, it soon became apparent that they were no match. She threw jabs and punches at her opponents chi-points, jumping over them when they tried to strike her with earthbending; the acrobat was done with the enemy as quickly as she had gotten down to the ground, her bright pink outfit surrounded by those off countless unconscious soldiers in their dirty drab beige and green.

"Ty Lee sure does know how to put on a show." she chuckled to herself, before turning to face Qin, "See, War Minister. Potential threat: dealt with." she declared to him, who nodded with a tense smile, feeling uncomfortable being in the sights of her icy glare; she wasn't even in a sour mood, yet she was able to intimidate the man commanding the greatest weapon ever created.

After taking a moment to smile, appreciating the fear she incited, she turned back to glance up at the wall, where squads of soldiers could be seen, ever tiny, ready with balls of stone; not that they would pose any threat to the weapon that lay before them, she knew that as long as the Earth Kingdom had it in them to resist, the war would continue. Her goal was not to simply break through a wall, but to break their spirits; she recalled a proverb: a man can fight until he dies if he has hope for victory, but will break with fear if he believes otherwise. The drill continued forward, but not much progress was made by the time Mai and Ty Lee had come back up the elevator, returning to their seats.

"Did you see that, Zula? We kicked their butts." the energetic acrobat raised a fist into the air, Azula clapping in such a manner that they couldn't tell if it was sarcastic or not; in truth, it was wholly genuine, but she loved to play with their minds.

"Yes, I did. That was a spectacular display of your strengths; the fact the benders defending the last free city in the Earth Kingdom were able to fall so swiftly tells me that this conquest will be easier than I first thought." she smirked confidently, truly believing her own words; non-benders like Ty Lee and Mai were exceptional, but they proved a point: a lot of men with muscles didn't win you a war, rather it was skill and sharp minds that did.

"I'm sure we could throw me up the wall and I could beat them up there too." the acrobat suggested with a cunning smile, making Azula raise a finger to her chin in thought.

"Now that you mention it, I haven't tried flying with firebending recently. Perhaps I might be able to get you up there." she glanced up the wall, before shaking her head, "But we have a drill to break through- we don't need to worry about a bunch of stupid earthbenders who think they could break this machine purely by throwing rocks at it."

"Then we can sit back and relax." Ty Lee acknowledged, lounging herself back on the chair, glancing casually through the periscope, acting rather aloof when they were about to conquer a city.

She raised a brow in thought, considering how little impact whole squadrons of earthbenders could make to their efforts, while a few days prior a band of non-bending girls had sequestered the entire workforce that had been working on the construction of the drill; to their luck, the structure was complete by that point and only a few mechanical adjustments had to be made before the machine could be launched in the direction of Ba Sing Se.

"To think Zuzu's little girlfriend and her friends were more of a threat to the Fire Nation's war effort than the Earth Kingdom defenders of Ba Sing Se." she chuckled to herself, Ty Lee glancing back from her periscope toward her.

"Huh, is Zuko really into treachery or something?" she asked, Mai scoffing at her suggestion, rolling her eyes.

"He's stubborn, in all the wrong ways." she simply told her friend, making Azula chuckle, thinking that was quite a fine way to sum up her brother.

"I couldn't have said it better myself."

* * *

Holding up the plans of the drill, Sokka's eyes opened wide with interest, glancing over the various structures he could make out; he knew that his plan wasn't stupid, and now, with an understanding of how it worked, he knew how to defeat the massive war-machine. He sat it down on the metal floor, sitting down alongside Katara and Aang, and began to point out what he could see,

"It looks like the drill is made up of two main structures. There's the inner mechanism where we are now and the outer shell. The inner part and the outer part are connected by these braces." he explained, before a smirk curled on his lips, "If we cut through them, the entire thing will collapse."

The others nodded along in agreement, Aang getting up, and pointing down the hallway, "We should get to it quickly. They must be getting close to the wall, no matter what Toph does to slow it down. Let's go!"

The two Water Tribe siblings chased after the young, energetic airbender as the he sprinted down the dark metal hallway, heading in the direction of the doors that would allow them to access the braces. The young Water Tribe warrior kept his strides up, knowing what was at stake with their plan; he knew that they needed to get rid of the braces as quickly as possible, so they could make sure the Fire Nation had no chance to get through the wall. He was in awe of the machine itself, and thought for a moment if the Mechanist had had anything to do with it's construction, but he had no idea in the end.

When they reached at intersection, he pointed to the right of them, "This way!" he exclaimed, the group racing on down the hallway, eventually making sight of a door; Sokka pushed it open, making sight of a large steel beam that curved around the drill, connected to a number of other beams that formed the brace structure of the drill.

His jaw dropped in surprise, seeing how thick the beam was in person, "Wow, it looks a lot thicker in person than it does in the plans. We're going to have to work pretty hard to cut through that."

His sister crossed her arms with annoyance, obviously not agreeing with his judgement, "What's this 'we' stuff? Aang and I are going to have to do all the work." she scowled, the Water Tribe warrior turning around gesturing to himself.

"Look, I'm the plan guy. You two are the cut stuff up with waterbending guys." he told them, before standing his hands on his hips triumphantly, "Together, we're Team Avatar!"

Katara and Aang looked at each other with slight unease, making him think that they didn't approve of his team name; he for one, thought it was pretty good, and indicated across to the other side of the brace, "With one of you on each side, you can slice through it, like a saw through an ice-block!" he grinned, as he pumped a fist into the air, much to his sister's chagrin.

"Urgh, Sokka... This is a lot harder than an ice-block." she pointed to the metal beam that was as thick as his own arm span; he sighed, acknowledging her point.

"You have a point. But there's no time like the present!" he piped up, making slicing motions with his arms, "Chop chop!"

His sister glared at him, and for a moment he though he was going to get a water whip in the face, but Aang placed a hand on her shoulder, shaking his head, "I'll go around the other side. Let's do this." he grinned at her, the waterbender smiling back at him with more confidence than she had before; he could always trust the Avatar to put his sister in a better mood- unless Toph was involved, in which case he stayed well away.

After Aang used his airbending to jump to the other side of the brace, before he took a stance, ready to receive the water whip in his hands when it came his way; Katara bent some water out of her pouch, before thrusting her arm forward, sending the water through the side of the brace, making a small incision before he caught the water on the other side. He sent it back, cutting along the side again, the incision deepening; as they began to repeat the same motion, Sokka's eyes brightened, realising that they could actually cut through a beam with waterbending alone. As time went on, each of them became more tired, their strikes unwavering, but he could see that both of them were sweating and gasping for breath; he was silently glad he wasn't a bender, so he didn't get himself as tired as they were just for throwing their arms around and moving stuff with their minds.

As they both stood back, panting from exhaustion, Sokka pumped his arms in the air, knowing that they needed some encouragement, "C'mon team. Don't quit now!" he told them, but instead of raising their hopes, he simply aggravated his sister, growled at him, exploding into a fury of frustration; he was also glad she was a waterbender and not a firebender, otherwise he might have gotten splashed by a wave of flames at that moment.

She threatened to strike him with a water whip, reading her stance to strike; his eyes opened wide, realising he needed to make himself sound less annoying, "I mean... you're almost there." he pointed to the brace, which had by that point been cut half-way.

The waterbender and airbender continued the strenuous task of cutting through the brace; with each exchange of the water between their hands, the cut became deeper, and as Sokka made sight of the cut nearing the edge, his mouth opened wide into smile, ecstatic to see what would happen when it finally was broken in half. When the cut finally goes clean through the brace, tensed for a moment, waiting for something to happen, disappointed to see that the top half slid downward a few inches, barely budging.

Katara wiped the sweat from her forehead, panting with unease, "At this rate, we won't do enough damage before the drill reaches the wall."

The Avatar sighed, agreeing with her sentiment, "I don't know how many more of those I have in me."

As he was about to give up hope, Sokka heard a rumbling noise from inside the drill, making his eyes widen, realising that something might just happen, "Do you hear that? We took it down! We better get out of here fast!" he exclaimed, the three of them racing toward the door, knowing they had to get out quickly if the whole machine was about fall to pieces, but realised their mistake as a voice sounded out through the tubes above them.

"Congratulations, crew. The drill has made contact with the wall of Ba Sing Se. Start the countdown to victory!"

Upon hearing those words, they all looked at each other with fear, the Water Tribe warrior turning back to face the brace, "We need to move it. Somehow." he grumbled, racing up toward the brace and pushing at it, to no avail, "C'mon brace ... budge!"

"This is bad, really bad." his sister stated the obvious, the Water Tribe warrior bashing his hands against the brace with frustration.

"We're putting everything we've got into busting these braces, but it's taking too long!"

Behind him, he heard Aang gasp with realisaiton, "Maybe we don't need to cut all the way through. Toph has been teaching me that you shouldn't give one hundred percent of your energy into any one strike. Sokka, take a fighting stance." he told him, to which he turned, glancing his way with as best a stance he could make, "You've got to be quick and accurate. Hit a series of points and break your opponent's stance." he explained before jabbing him rapidly, the warrior cringing back from the strikes, slightly dazed and winded, "And when he's reeling back, you deliver the final blow." before the Avatar simply tapped him on the head, knocking him down, "His own weight becomes his downfall, literally."

He didn't appreciate the fact he was the metaphor for the drill, cringing from the hits the airbender had thrown his way; so much for being a little harmless pacifist, he thought to himself, and noted it would have been funnier if he weren't on the receiving end.

"So we just need to weaken the braces, instead of cutting all the way through." Katara theorised, Aang furthering her idea.

"Then I'll go to the top of this thing and deliver the final blow."

Rising to his feet, the Water Tribesman felt a sense of confidence, "And boom! It all comes crashing down!" he grinned, knowing that the little airbender had just as much a knack for plans as he did; that was to him a proud, almost parent-like moment that he cherished before his face turned serious.

"Everyone inside that wall. The whole world is counting on us." the Avatar told them both, before Sokka raised a brow, realising that his statement was technically incorrect.

"The whole world minus the Fire Nation that is."

* * *

"Come on, ladies!"

She glared at War Minister Qin for a moment, knowing that he was being far too confident, and Azula knew exactly where that had gotten them; someone had been able to break into his great war-machine and sabotage it. Ty Lee and Mai followed right behind her to the elevator, the three of them standing in the metal box as it lowered down toward the interior of the drill.

"I bet it's the Avatar and his cronies. They just love to frustrate the Fire Nation's efforts." she sighed with frustration, Ty Lee raising a brow at her.

"Huh, how are you so sure? Couldn't have some earthbenders snuck in from underneath?" she asked the Princess, who raised a brow before shaking her head.

"Even if they could, no earthbender could cut a brace clean through- only two bending forms can achieve that: firebending and waterbending, and I'm assuming there's no traitors under Qin's command, otherwise he'll be getting a court-marshal for his ignorance." she explained, Mai looking at her with confusion.

"Court-marshal? But isn't he technically a civilian?" she asked her, to which she sighed.

"Technically, that's true. But I am the heir of the Fire Nation- what ever I say goes, especially when it comes to dealing down punishments to morons." she stressed, Ty Lee and Mai both looking at her with some unease.

"Just like Zhao?" the acrobat mumbled a question, making her smirk confidently as the doors of the elevator opened as they reached the core of the drill.

"Yes, exactly like Zhao." she smirked, the knife-thrower scratching her chin.

"Huh- so does that mean you'll give him over to the defenders of the walls if he's really that incompetent?" she concluded, the Princess chuckling as she began to race forward.

"I don't know. Depends on my mood." she admitted with a shrug of her shoulders, continuing to pace forward towards a doorway that would lead them out from where the braces were accessible.

The sound of cutting became more audible as they approached the door, and when they opened it, she was able to make sight of the Avatar and his two Water Tribe friends cutting at a brace; the little earthbending girl was obviously absent, but that was a sensible choice on her behalf, as she wasn't very useful as an earthbender inside what was essentially a big metal cage. She smirked as she realised that the group hadn't spotted them, knowing she had an ample opportunity to intervene in their sabotage; she mightn't intend to capture the Avatar, but she wouldn't let him ruin their Fire Nation's plans to finally conquer Ba Sing Se.

"Good work, Team Avatar!" she heard Sokka call out, after which she sent a blue fire ball the airbender's way, "Now Aang just needs to... duck!" he exclaimed, warning his friend as he caught sight of the fireball; he dodged it, but the Princess simply sent another his way, barely missing the rapidly approaching blue fire blast.

"Wow, Azula, you were right. It is the Avatar!" Ty Lee exclaimed, realising that she had been right in her assumptions, as she tended to be; the acrobat curled her lips at the Water Tribe boy, "And friends." she suggested, making him look back at both of them- not just the flirtatious chi-blocker, but the Princess of the Fire Nation, who scowled at the unheeded and unwanted attention.

"Hey." he waved at them with a smug smile that she wanted to immediately wipe off of his face.

She pulled her arm back for a moment before thrusting it forward, sending a fireball right at his head, the Water Tribesman falling flat onto the beam to dodge it; as he looked back at her with annoyance, she smirked- that was the only emotion she wanted to be getting out of her opponents.

"That was uncalled for." he crossed his arms, sounding offended by her actions, before his sister quite literally dragged him away with a frustrated glare on her face.

"Sokka! You already have two girlfriends. You don't need three!" she declared, the warrior gasping with offense, making the Princess snicker at his reaction.

"Toph was the one that kissed me! And it was for saving her from the serpent!" he declared, crossing his arms as she continued to pull him away, Azula relenting from throwing a fire blast, as she enjoyed his momentary comedic outburst.

Ty Lee jumped forward, ready to attack the Avatar and his friends with her chi-blocking, but he sent an airbending slice her way, knocking her off to the side while the three of them raced into the hallways; the acrobat landed roughly on a beam to the right of them, the Princess jumping down to her level, quickly followed by Mai behind her.

"Ah- uh- at least they're not cutting the braces anymore." she heard Ty Lee acknowledged as she lifted her splayed form up.

"That's a fair point, but you know they won't stop until they defeat us." Azula argued, both of her friends nodding with agreement, "Come on." she offered her friend a hand lifting her to her feet before the three of them raced along the beams toward the doorway where the so-called 'Team Avatar' had fled.

Making their way through the doorway, the Princess increased her pace, knowing that she had to catch her opponents before they could do any more damage; the trio reached an intersection, splitting into two groups, the Avatar going one direction and his friends the other. As much as she might want to mock the Water Tribesman further, she decided to relent on that case, and focus the main threat; as they arrived at the intersection she pointed down the direction Katara and Sokka had run.

"Follow them! I'll deal with the Avatar." she ordered, Mai and Ty Lee running to the left, while she went to the right.

She ran down the hallway as fast as her feet could take her, and when the Avatar glanced her way he increased his speed further, making her sigh with frustration as he zipped out of sight, the Princess forced to blindly go on forward into another section of the drill; when she made her way to an opening, she realised it was a large room full of engineers who were maintaining the large mechanical structures that filled the interior of the drill. Azula glanced upward, seeing a trail of dust clouds where Aang had been running upon one of the elevated walkways, making her scowl upon realising that he was already well ahead of her already. She decided to shorten her route up to the walkway by sending flames through her hands and feet, pushing her up into the air for a few moments, giving her a chance to grab the walkway above her and swung herself onto it; glaring down the walkway, she raced down it, following the clouds of dust that remained from the Avatar speeding through. She raced on forward, eventually arriving at a hatch exit out of the interior of the drill; it was open, and it's ladder pulled out. Looking all the way up the funnel, she realised it must have been the Avatar's plan to reach the outside of the drill and attempt to intensify the damage he had already caused by cutting at the braces.

"They're smarter than I thought." she frowned, grasping onto the ladder and pulling herself up as quickly as her arms and legs would take her; with each motion her hands clasped tightly on the metal bars that lined the ladder, Azula feeling the blisters beginning to form as she roughly grasped and pulled with each step upward.

When she finally reached the top hatch, she pulled herself up onto the top of the drill; she put her hand over her eyes to glance out to where the Avatar might have gone, noticing that he was standing by the end of the drill. The Princess raced forward, powering her strides up with firebending, quickly approaching the Avatar, who was unaware of her closing in; to her chagrin, his flying-lemur screeched out fearfully, alerting him to the fire blast that was sent his way.

He gasped, realising that she had come for him, "Momo, get out of here!" he told his lemur, who took his heeding and flew off as Azula readied herself to fight the Avatar, one more time; as both of them took stances, she sighed with frustration, realising that if she didn't want to capture the Avatar, their fighting was essentially pointless.

"Again, I should stress, I'm not here to capture you." she admitted, "But I would just like you to get off my drill." she told him as a simple warning before shooting two fire blast his way; he deflected the attack with his airbending, glaring back at her confidently.

"Not a chance. All those people in Ba Sing Se, they're counting on me." he declared, making her chuckle at the suggestive meaning of his words.

"Ah, because they're incapable of defending themselves. It's brilliant, you people love to confirm my own opinions." she smiled at him smugly, throwing volleys of fire at him, only to have them be blocked by the Avatar's quick use of waterbending; the two of them clashed, his water whips preventing her from sending any flames his way.

She glared at him, knowing that water was a far weaker element compared to her own, and quickly dispensed of his defences by kicking a powerful fire blast his way and vaporising the liquid; before she could act upon her initiative, a number of boulders fell down from above them, her keen sense of hearing alerting her and allowing the Princess to dodge the various boulders that fell down around them. Unsurprisingly, the master of evasion himself was unharmed by the boulders and decieded to use them against her; acknowledging that he now had earthbending under his belt made him a bigger threat, as all he needed was firebending to complete the set, though she doubted there was anyone who would willingly teach him her own bending art. She dodged a boulder he threw her way, before he used the remains of the other boulders to form a defensive wall around himself; he tossed a number of rocks in her direction, which she was able to deflect with ease before she kicked flames his way. She smirked at him confidently as she charged a powerful firebending blast; Aang's eyes widened with fear, the Princess unrelenting in her determination, throwing her strength into the blast, which his feeble wall of earth failed to defend him from, slamming him right into the wall, where he was left unconscious; she heard the drill rumbling underneath her, moving forward, dragging his unconscious body nearly under the wall itself.

Knowing that she had deal with him, she grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him up against the wall, charging a fire blast in her hand, silently glaring him down as she prepared make the final strike. Before she could send her hand into his face, he formed a gauntlet of rock, blocking her attack and knocking her back. As he retook his stance, Azula raced back toward him, charging flames in her hands to speed herself up; before she could reach him, a powerful blast of slurry came out from the drill, seemingly through the wall. It splattered her in the disgusting material, but furthermore her momentum wasn't lost and she continued slide helplessly toward the wall trying to reorient herself to no avail; a few moments later she slammed right into Aang, and both of them were thrown against the wall before being flung back onto the surface of the drill, sliding along on the slurry-covered surface. She began to slide down the side of the drill, turning her body around so she could dig the tips of her metal boots into the drill's surface, finally stopping her descent, probably moments before she would have otherwise fallen down to the ground below.

She began to crawl up the side of the drill, finding herself struggling against the sheer surface, but she was able to use her boots to slowly pull herself up; once the incline became weaker, she increased her pace until she was sprinting up the side of the drill, eventually reaching the top, where she made sight of the Avatar racing down the side of the Outer Wall, right toward a stone wedge he had lodged in the surface of the drill; she glared him down with determination, ready to put an end to his nonsense. Azula spun around, before sending a fireball through her fingers, just missing him, whose collision with the wedge made a shock-wave that sent her backward through the air; as she flew backward, she screamed out in fear, realising what was happening a moment after the fact. The shock-wave carried her through the air for a few seconds, reorienting herself as she careened along, using a fire blast to slow her movement, then landing on the surface of the drill, upon which she was able to slide due to the massive amounts of slurry that had come to cover it. She continued along the surface of the drill all the way to it's rear, before she reached the end of the drill, jumping off it before she fell down swiftly to the ground, landing and splashing Ty Lee, who was lying down on the surface, with slurry; she glanced behind, hearing a hatch opening, out of which looked Mai, stoic as ever.

"We lost." she simply told her, the Princess rolling her eyes.

"What does it look like?" she asked her sarcastically, before she glanced back to Ty Lee, who was still fully covered in slurry; she walked over and offered her a hand, "Sorry about that." she acknowledged her slight mistake in landing right by her.

The acrobat wiped the slurry from her face, giving her a warm smile, "Ah, it's not that bad. I thought the Avatar's friends would beat me up after I got out of the slurry, but they just let me be." she admitted, the Princess raising a brow at her, before sighing.

"Fighting them would have been no use anyway." she acknowledged, before raising a finger to her chin, "We have more important things to do at the moment, anyway." she declared confidently, her friends looking at her with interest, before Ty Lee piped up.

"Ooh! We're going to go find Zuko's girlfriend!" she declared, both of them instinctively glancing Mai's way, who raised her hands, acting as if nothing were wrong.

"Why are you looking at me?"

"You were right, by the way." Azula admitted to the acrobat, who had made a sound judgement of the Princess's plans, "Those Kyoshi Warriors are both a thorn in the side of the Fire Nation, as well as being quite a useful bargaining chip for us." she acknowledged, "And... they can provide us with a way into Ba Sing Se." she smirked, Mai raising a brow at her.

"Into Ba Sing Se- what are you going to steal their passports or something?" she asked her with a tone that almost could be argued sarcastic, although with Mai, as always, she couldn't tell.

"Not exactly. I was more thinking their entire identities." she smirked, clenching a fist confidently, "Who would the Earth Kingdom suspect less than the personal allies of the Avatar himself?" she asked them.

"Their leader is your brother's girlfriend." Ty Lee noted with a tone of disbelief, the Princess snickering, knowing that was a non-issue in the end.

"It's not like they know that."


	33. Two Different Kinds of Freedom Fighter

_Grasping his hands on the railing of his ship, Prince Zuko looked out onto the twilight sky, the orange hue of sunset fading away into the deep black of night; he glanced down below his hands, into the waves that battered against the side of his ship, and sighed, not knowing what to do with himself. He wasn't just bored by his current evening, where he had refused to join his uncle's attempt at a Pai Sho tournament with the crew- he knew exactly which way that would go, as always; he was rather bored by his journey, having already spent a good two years at sea, travelling across the world, scouring the Air Temples, and then a variety of locales that he considered to be possible hiding places for the Avatar. Hope was something he wanted, but sorely lacked in his heart; two years at sea could do that to any man, he was sure of it. His life, as a whole, had been crushed down to a simple waiting game, one he could spend his entire life doing; if the Avatar never reappeared, then he would die a banished prince, and never see his home again. Zuko didn't want to think about that, hammering his hands down on the railing and leaning over, realising how dangerous he was being when he nearly pushed himself over._

_"Ah, shit!" he gasped, leaning back, nearly falling flat on his backside as he reeled back, leaning himself up against the metal wall of the superstructure, glancing out toward the horizon poignantly, his fear replaced by a sense of melancholy._

_He knew that no one else was on the deck, and that if he were to slip off the railing into the water, he would fall into the cold, and no one would notice him missing; not for a few hours until his uncle asked him how he was going, as he usually tried to do a few times a day. The banished prince wasn't going to be missed by many people if he disappeared, and he knew that the only person who might shed a tear was his uncle; if it weren't for his immense sense of confidence in rightful place as Crown Prince and his uncle's warmth and happiness, he might have just gotten off his boat, cut his phoenix tail off, and rid himself of any obligations. He imagined himself, running off into the wilderness, going to live in some rustic, isolated Earth Kingdom village; it'd be a tough life, but he might at the very least find some peace out there, rather than wallowing in his own anguish. A voice in his head told him that his father wouldn't care about him disappearing, leaving his honour behind and betraying his duties; that voice told him that his father would be happy, that his biggest disappointment was finally gone. He refused to agree in heart with that voice, and declared to himself, albeit not verbally, that he wasn't going to give up. He couldn't give up when there was the chance he could find the master of the elements, capture him and take him back to the Fire Lord in chains, where he would be honoured with the return of his title and the respect of his father._

_"Prince Zuko, what are you doing out here?" he heard his uncle's familiar voice ask out, the Prince glancing back his way, forcefully changing his expression to look more surprised and less frustrated._

_"I- uh- was meditating. Doing my breathing exercises, like you always remind me to." he told Iroh, whose eyes told him that he didn't truly believe what he was saying, although he went along with his lie anyway._

_"That's good. One must never forget to take a moment to breathe. It may save your life one day." he raised a finger, the Prince nodding at his uncle's sound advice._

_"Yes, that is... a good point." he acknowledged with an awkwardly forced smile, remembering that breathing was vital to firebending, and his own life, as no one could live without breathing._

_"Well, then. I just came to check on you, nephew. It is getting late, after all." the retired general explained himself, his nephew raising a hand to indicate back the way he came._

_"Good timing. I was- uh- just about to go back to my room." he acknowledged, Iroh smiling back at him, getting of his nephew's way as he walked past him back toward the front of the superstructure._

_"Would you care for some tea? I was thinking I should brew at least one more batch tonight." he asked him, Zuko tensing for a moment, considering his uncle's offer, before looking back his way._

_"No... but, I was wondering, do you have anything- uh- a little stronger?" he asked, the retired general raising a brow._

_"Stronger tea?" he asked, and without the Prince having to correct him, he realised what his nephew was actually referring to, "Oh, you'd like some of that."_

_"You said you bought the crew some bajiu for special occasions, didn't you?" Zuko asked in clarification, Iroh looking at his nephew curiously, scratching at his beard._

_"Are you sure you want to, nephew?" he asked him with a precautionary tone, "I'm unsure if you're ready to drink something like that."_

_"I may not be physically ready, but I am mentally well and truly passed that point, uncle." he assured him, before turning around, "So are we going to go get it?" he asked, his uncle sighing before accepting his request._

_"Yes, nephew. You ought to let off some steam... in a less literal way than usual."_

_Zuko agreed with his uncle's sentiment entirely; he could only get so angry until he had an outburst, and he didn't want to put that on his crew. So, he decided to take less of a harmful route, by instead directing the harm to himself; drinking wasn't the best thing he could have chosen to do, but it was the only one that he could derive any pittance of enjoyment out of._

* * *

"That'll be- uh- five copper pieces."

Zuko sighed, reaching into his pocket to hand the salesman some money; he and his uncle had run out of rice, and he had gone out just after their shifts ended to get some. To his luck the market was still lively when he arrived, and was relieved to know that he'd be eating some actual dinner; he of all people didn't want to waste their money going out when they could make their own food, despite his predilection for the more refined cuisines of his nation. It wasn't as if Fire Nation delicacies were going to be sold in Ba Sing Se while they were in a middle of a war, so he decided to not even bother with that route.

"Thanks." he accepted the bag of rice, grabbing it with his right hand and pulling the string that lined it's top to tighten and sling the bag over his shoulder.

He walked on through the market, passing under the paper lanterns that hang between the shops and stalls, making his way back in the direction of their apartment, which was a few minutes walk away; he averted his eyes from the glances of those walking by, feeling self-conscious about his scar. He hadn't gotten used to being in a city full of so many people after months walking through the poorest, desolate parts of the Earth kingdom; he didn't think he ever would get used to it, but he kept his chin up, knowing that he was there for his uncle's sake. Soon enough, however, he was out of the masses of people shopping at the evening market, and rather found himself snaking through the streets and lanes that haphazardly crossed the Lower Ring; he found solace in the relative silence as he paced along, passing only a few people as he took the fastest route he knew from the market back to his apartment.

As Zuko turned a corner, he heard a squeal from behind him, instinctively turning back to see a couple being harassed in an alleyway by a bunch of gruff looking men, "Ah! Why did you hit him?! He's not going to hurt you!" he heard the woman cry out, the Prince taking note of her partner leaning back, blood coming out of his nose and mouth.

"I told you two, you want to keep on living here, you've got to fess up." one of the men told her, grasping her by her collar and throwing her against the wall, "Do I have to ask again?" he shouted, seemingly annoyed by her silence, "Where's my money?"

He clenched his fists, knowing that shouldn't intervene, but knew it would be dishonourable to let people be treated so horribly when he could rather do something; the fugitive prince began to pace forward, dropping his bag of rice behind a crate before waving to get one of the ruffians' attention.

"Hey you!" he shouted out, the men looking his way, one of them throwing the woman to the ground as he looked Zuko's way.

"What do you want, brat? You think you want to help these little grubs?" he called out, the Prince scowling.

"You better let them go. Or we're going to have some trouble." he declared, somewhat bluffing as he clenched his fists, standing tall as the men began to approach him.

"We already have trouble, boy." another growled, "Get 'im!" he ordered the group, the Prince immediately taking a stance, ready to fight them all off if that was what it took to get them to stop abusing the couple.

Three ruffians came upon him at once, Zuko ducking under a poorly aimed punch before grabbing his arm, throwing him down to the side; he silently thanked the Kyoshi Warriors for all of their tedious and painful training. The Prince was tackled by one of the men, but he was able to throw him off with a quick jab to the jugular; he kicked the man to the side, readying his stance once more, knowing that there was still another three men that he'd have to deal with. He momentarily glanced about, considering whether there was any sticks for him to beat his opponents with, but was disappointed to see that there was none; another two raced at him, this time from two angles, trying to get him on both sides, but he was able to roll under their attempted attacks, before he turned around, knocking back both of their punches. He heard the other man approaching from behind, and spun his foot around to kick him in the shin, making him cry out him pain before he punched Zuko in the shoulder, throwing him off balance; falling down onto the dusty ground, he winced in pain as he awkwardly landed on his side. He glanced around him momentarily, noticing that there was a broom sitting idly by the wall; it was a good enough weapon for him, the Prince grasping it and striking the nearest ruffian in the head.

"Argh! Fuck you, you little shit!" the man shouted out, pulling out a knife, which he dodged a slicing cut from, before hitting him in the diaphragm, sending him back into the wall.

Before he could reorient himself against his opponents, a fist collided with his head and he was thrown to the ground, losing grasp of his broom in the process and falling to his side; unable to even see correctly, he turned his head around to check where his opponents were coming from, and was able to make out the couple running away in fear, the woman crying out fearfully. He was hit once more, this time a foot going straight into his gut; he was glad his diet seemed to mostly consist of tea, as he was able to find any stomach filling to throw up as he cringed in pain, the stinging sensation unbearable. He screamed out with pain, grabbing the knife that his previous opponent had been using, stabbing the next leg that came his way, jabbing the knife into his skin before grasping his leg; he thrust the knife into where he assumed the knee joint was, and as he twisted the short blade, the scream of pain indicated well enough he had stabbed the right spot. Before he could try and take advantage of his situation, he was punched in the head again, which forced him back, his skull colliding sharply with the ground; he thought for a moment that he might have died, but the ringing sensation that only intensified as time went on indicated otherwise. Grasping at his head, as he tried to look for the next incoming strike, he heard a thumping noise, and then another; Zuko pulled himself back away from the ruffian who looked like he was about to kick him in the head. The man never had the chance, as his hand was shot through with an arrow, making his opponent scream out in pain before he was knocked over by an unseen assailant. Blinking a few times, the banished prince recollected himself, realising that somebody had just intervened in his fight; above him stood a teenage boy with what looked like home-made armour and thick brown hair that looked like a mop on top of his head.

"Need some help?" he asked the Prince, offering him a hand; he relented for a moment, but accepted, reaching out let his hand be grasped by his rescuer's.

"Yeah." he mumbled, "Th-thanks." he tried put on a face of relief, but it simply formed a grimace as he winced from the pain in his head, which had well and truly over taken any feeling of breathlessness he had.

Zuko glanced around, his vision less blurry, and made out that the teen that had helped him up was only one of three that had intervened in his fight; the ruffians lay unconscious before two other teens, one brandishing their fists and the other a bow and arrow.

"Jet, he looks okay." one of the remarked, the teen before him nodding, patting the Prince on his shoulder.

"Yeah, you're all right, aren't you?" he asked him, Zuko spitting blood out of his mouth before forcing a nod.

"Uh- yeah. Are- is that couple okay? I saw them run off, but I could've been hallucinating." he asked, looking behind him down the alleyway, where there seemed to be no evidence of the two people he had been trying to help.

"Couple? Didn't see any couple, I just saw you being beaten up by these guys." Jet acknowledged, pointing out the unconscious men that lay on the ground around them, "You put up a fight against those guys just to help a couple?" he asked him, curiosity audible in his voice.

"Y-yeah." he admitted, "It was a bad idea... but I- uh- wasn't going to stand by and let those two be harassed so violently by these bastards." he gritted his teeth, the other teen clenching his hand on the Prince's shoulder.

"What's your name?" he asked him, Zuko realising that he'd have to use his pseudonym, which he had been referred to almost solely by ever since he arrived in Ba Sing Se, seeing that his uncle almost always referred to him as 'nephew'.

"Lee. My name's Lee." he told him, earning a snicker from his rescuer.

"Huh- well, Lee, you seem like you'd fit right in with us Freedom Fighters." Jet smirked at him, "I'm Jet, and these are my fellow Freedom Fighters, Smellerbee," he indicated to the one with eye-liner and a bandanna, "and Longshot" and to the other, a boy who wore a straw hat and had a red cloak over his shoulders.

The Prince raised a brow, slightly confused while a self-entitled Freedom Fighter would be in a place like Ba Sing Se, "Freedom fighter? Freedom against what?" he asked, to which the Freedom Fighter simply smirked at him, indicating to his friends.

"Freedom Fighters against the Fire Nation... or at least we used to be." he admitted, looking troubled as he glanced at his friends, who looked away; he looked back to Zuko, "We did some bad things. And we're trying to start over, here in Ba Sing Se."

"Ah- okay." he nodded, still unsure about his rescuers, who seemed more odd the more he thought about them; who would wear the outfits they did, let alone run into an alleyway and beat up some ruffians who were beating him up, "Thanks for helping me. I- I thought I was done for there." he admitted honestly.

"Really? You don't look that hurt." Jet glanced down at his injuries, which other than the obvious concussion he received, didn't seem to be that serious; not that he could tell, since the ringing in his head was outweighing any pain he felt elsewhere.

"I might have done... something bad, if you hadn't come in and helped." he admitted, thinking to the possibility of him setting his opponents alight, or worse, shooting a hole right through them with a lightning bolt.

"Well, I'm- uh- glad you didn't." Jet awkwardly smiled at him before indicating down the alleyway, "Do you need help, to get home and all?" he asked, the Prince coughing before pointing down toward the end of the alley.

"I have a bag of rice back there. I was walking home to go make dinner." he explained his situation, Smellerbee grabbing the bag and showing it to him.

"This bag of rice?"

He nodded back, "Uh, yeah. That bag of rice." smiling with relief to know that no one had stolen it.

"Well, we'll take you back to your house. It's the least we can do to help someone else like ourselves." the Freedom Fighter smiled with him as he struggled to walk forward.

"Uh- like you?" he asked, almost disbelieving; he did take a moment to consider that he was the Blue Spirit, who was essentially a vigilante cross petty thief, "I guess I am." he agreed, answering his own question, much to the approval of his rescuer, who had a smirk curl on his lips, seemingly delighted to have found someone who he might call akin to himself.

Jet held a hand over his shoulder, helping him walk along as his fellow Freedom Fighters walked ahead, glancing about the street-side once they reached it, "So, Lee, where do you live?" he asked, the Prince's eyes widening as he realised he would be giving away his personal details to a relatively shady individual, even if he was one that had saved his life.

"Uh- up this street, I'll point it out when I see it." he explained himself, the Freedom Fighter seemingly comprehending as he pointed up the street, making some kind of hand-signal which Smellerbee and Longshot understood, beginning to walk in that direction, "Wh-what was that?" he asked, confused by what he was trying to direct his friends to do.

"Just making sure we aren't being followed. Those guys might have some friends, and we want to be ready to deal with them." he explained, Zuko instinctively looking back over his shoulder, relieved to see 'normal' looking pedestrians walking by.

"Urgh- if only I had my swords." he grumbled to himself, Jet chuckling at him.

"Oh, you're a sword-guy too?" he asked, the Prince nodding, before the Freedom Fighter continued, "I use hook-swords, they were pretty good when I used to live in a forest. For climbing trees and the likes."

"A forest, huh?" he mumbled to himself, only finding himself further confused by each following word that came out of the Freedom Fighter's mouth.

"It was nice there. Although I guess it was nice because it was safe." Jet smiling with a poignant glare, reminiscing to whatever life he had had before he came to Ba Sing Se; calling himself a Freedom Fighter made Zuko assume he likely did as unsavoury things as the ruffians who had tried to beat up a minute prior.

"So, Lee, what about you? How'd you end up here, getting yourself beat up by the local enforcers?" he asked, the Prince sighing, thinking about his long journey, his mind drifting to the thought of Suki.

"The war." he explained simply, knowing that must be the answer that every refugee ought to give, "I used to run with a group, before I got here... they were- I guess they were kinda like you guys." he admitted, Jet looking at him surprised.

"Like us?" he asked, Zuko chuckling to himself, realising a key difference.

"Well, not exactly. They were all girls." he admitted, the Freedom Fighter curling his lips at him, suggesting something inappropriate with such a simple motion of his mouth.

"All girls, ey? That must have been a little... weird." he acknowledged, the Prince nodding curtly, not wanting to go into his personal life with someone he didn't even know, "Now, I'm with my uncle. I came here to help him get a better life."

"A better life. That's what they all say about Ba Sing Se." Jet acknowledged, his face turning to look rather aggrieved, "It's not as good as they said it was."

"Nothing ever is." Zuko agreed, the two of them having a few moments of solace in thinking about how shit the world was, a moment of rather unusual camaraderie, at least in the Prince's eyes.

"What do you do now, other than running into alleys looking for a fight?" he asked him with a chuckle, the Prince rolling his eyes at his rather joking attitude, knowing that getting himself beat up was no laughing matter.

"I work at a tea shop. Pao's Family Tea House. You should come by if you want some of my Uncle's tea- it's pretty good." he explained, the Freedom Fighter nodding, furrowing a brow.

"Can't remember the last time I had tea." he acknowledged, "Well, we could show up at some point." he accepted his offer, the Prince nodding along; he was trying to be courteous, and he had come to the realisation that he ought to have allies in Ba Sing Se, especially when he was ending up in situations like the one he had that evening.

As he made sight of his apartment, he pointed it out, letting go of Jet's grasp and walking over to Smellerbee who held his bag of rice, "I'm here..." he mumbled, receiving the bag of rice into his hands, "Thanks for that."

"No problem." she acknowledged his courtesy, "Now, Jet, are we going home?" she asked her leader, who nodded.

"Yeah, we are. Good luck, Lee. I have a feeling we'll meet again." he smirked at the banished prince confidently, who only felt discomfort in his glare.

The teenage boy reminded him of his sister, and not in any positive way- his unbridled self-confidence seemed to be dangerous, and Zuko wasn't the kind of guy to purposefully go looking for danger when he could avoid; he knew that thought was hypocritical, especially after what had just happened, but he knew more than anyone that the most dangerous people weren't dangerous because of their strength, they were dangerous because of their egos.

* * *

"Th-thank you, for everything."

Lian's hugging came as a bit of a surprise, but after all the work, and running she had done, Suki was happy to be given such a warm embrace; after the woman broke away, she brightly smiled at her and the other warriors.

"I can't believe that you're all leaving already. You just saved our village- returned our lives to normal." she smiled, the head warrior looking at her with a sense of melancholy.

She was sad not because of any failure on her own behalf, but rather the exact opposite; their victory meant the Fire Nation would be hunting them down, another threat they would have to deal with- enemies on all sides. Suki shook her head, expelling her mind of such saddening and frustrating thoughts, turning her lips into a curt smile.

"We were glad to help you, but we have to leave, no matter how much some of us might want to enjoy the celebrations." she eyed Amari, whose mouth was full of rice-cakes that had been prepared in celebration of the villagers' return, "The Fire Nation will be coming after us, and we'd prefer them to focus on us rather than your village." she admitted, Lian nodding in return with poignant eyes; their victory was always going to be short-lived, it seemed.

Slinging her sleeping roll over her shoulder, the head warrior turned to her comrades, who were just as ready as she was, and more than likely just as dissatisfied with having to leave already; they came to fight in the war, to protect innocents, and they were doing just that. The price of their actions was apparent, and Suki accepted it for what it was; she had to fight, and she had to keep on helping others, otherwise her skills would be going to waste, something that she couldn't stand for.

"We will be eternally grateful, truly." Lian smiled at her brightly, before waving, "Good luck out there."

"We'll be needing it." Nakata acknowledged, her fellow warriors responding with some awkward laughter; it was funny, in a way, but even then, they were the ones who would be suffering because of a lack of luck.

"Um- that's right." Amari pointed at her friend, finally having swallowed down the last of the rice-cakes in her mouth.

Suki chuckled lightly along with the other warriors, but soon turned her heels began to walk away from the village, Lian standing by the edge with her young child and a number of other villagers, who were both looking on with sadness and awe; the work they had done had helped a lot of people, but saving a few villages wasn't going to end the war- it was only the beginning.

The sun had already been gone from the evening sky when they had begun walking away, and by the time the village was only a smudge on their horizon, the warriors were tired, but she knew they ought to use every smidgen of daylight they could get; the Fire Nation would be coming after them, sooner rather than later, and night would not make them relent on their search- she had heard well enough how determined they could be from Zuko and Iroh, who knew well enough about the Fire Nation's rather disturbing and extreme tactics when it came to the war.

"Huh, we can still see the wall from here." Sawa offhandedly remarked, pointing out to the horizon to their east, where below the orange haze of the sky sat the stark image of the Outer Wall of Ba Sing Se, still quite imposing despite how far away it was from them.

"It's pretty big." Nakata agreed, "I don't know how long it would take someone to walk around it, and I don't really want to find out." she admitted, Suki chuckling, glancing at her friend with an assuring grin.

"We're not walking that far, Nakata. Only far enough that we don't have to worry about the Fire Nation trying to mess with us." she told her, Amari snickering at her words, making the head warrior raise a brow.

"What? I didn't say anything funny." she asked her, completely dumbfounded by what her friend found funny about her statement.

"Well, what's funny is we might have to walk all the way into the sea to get away from the Fire Nation. It seems they're everywhere these days." she acknowledged, Suki sighing with a sense of frustration, knowing that the subordinate had a very good point.

"I don't know where exactly their forces are, and I don't exactly want to run into them either."

"These forests are a safe bet, aren't they?" Nakata asked her, the head warrior nodding.

"From what the villagers told me, this whole area isn't very populated, which is good, because the Fire Nation must have far less soldiers running about oppressing the locals than they did back near home." she explained to her fellow warriors, who looked at her with rather relieved glances, Amari smiling back.

"Well, that's better than walking to the sea." she acknowledged, "But you never know when they're going to try and invade Ba Sing Se... again." she chuckled.

"We're not planning to go anywhere near Ba Sing Se at the moment, especially seeing that we're technically outlaws." Suki assured her, before glancing in the direction of the walls, which were still ever-present by the horizon, "So going that way is a no-no."

Esumi chuckled, patting her on the shoulder, "Okay, boss, let's just find somewhere nice to camp for a change. I've had enough dust for a lifetime."

Nakata raised a hand, "I'm sure we can all agree with that." she suggested, the nodding that came from all of the Kyoshi Warriors indicating her assumption to be fact.

The group picked up pace again, and Suki turned her attention to focusing on the path ahead; from what she could see they were walking toward lightly forested hills, overshadowed by mountains that she could make out in the far distance. As the sky darkened further, it became harder to see, not helping that the terrain they walked through became rougher as they made their way up into the hills, forced to walk along through a dried up creek-bed rather than up the steeper hillside, which was dry and barren except for a few trees and shrubs. Finally, they reached the top of the ridge-line, giving her a good vantage point, where she could spot the light of fires and the rising smokestacks of villages that sat off in the distance; Suki was relieved to know that she at least had a direction she could head in the case of trying to find civilisation. The forest ahead of her was thicker and greener, and she was able to make out a number of streams that meandered down through the hills in the distance, indicating to her that at the very least they'd find some places to refill their water skins when need be; she dropped her bags, and a few moments later, the other warriors proceeded to do the same.

"This is a good spot." Amari acknowledged, pointing around them, "We can see if anyone's coming our way in any direction."

"Exactly, so we can pack up and run off in case the Fire Nation picks a fight with us." Nakata furthered, the other warrior looking at her with confusion.

"Oh, so we're not going to beat some firebender heads in?" she asked, drawing out her fan, as if she was ready to hit somebody.

"No, Amari." the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors clarified, "We're not going to get into any fight we don't need to. Running is something we should be used to doing by now." she admitted, her subordinate pouting, looking rather disappointed she wouldn't be seeing a fight if she could help it.

"But it's not like we can't beat them. Unless they send some of their crazy war-machines our way; we're the toughest non-benders there is." she declared, Suki snickering.

"We're good, but a unit of firebenders is going to be harder to beat than you'd think. We nearly lost at that Fire Nation compound a few days ago- surprise was our only advantage." she argued, Amari sitting herself down, sighing with defeat.

"Fine." she mumbled, before turning her head up looking at her with determination, "But we better be ready." she told her, to which she nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly with her for a change.

"Yes, we do. That's why we'll take three hour shifts each tonight, to be completely sure we're safe." she declared, the group all accepting her order without question, before the head warrior raised a brow, "Seeing that we've already eaten tonight, I'm assume Amari won't be making her 'wonderful' stew." she sarcastically quipped, her subordinate rolling her eyes.

"It's better than anything you can make." she argued back, Sawa raising a hand, cringing as she turned to Suki.

"Yeah, actually, Amari's right." she told her, the head warrior rolling her eyes.

"The point is, we're not cooking or hunting, so we can just sit down and relax." she clarified, the other warriors looking at each other before pulling their bedrolls out; she stood up and glanced around the ground around them, taking note of a few twigs and branches that had fallen down from the trees, "How about we get some firewood, and tell some stories?"

"Stories?" Esumi raised her head, "I've got a good one- Nakata's going to like it."

"Me?" the aforementioned warrior raised a brow.

"Yeah, I call it the 'Adventures of the Blue Spirit'!" she proclaimed with a wide grin, all of the warriors breaking down into laughter.

Wiping tears of laughter from her eyes, Suki looked at her fellow warrior with a more serious face than before, "Uh, so you're not joking?" she asked, the other warrior nodding intently with a bright smile still on her face.

"Yeah, I started jotting down some stuff. It's inspired from real life!" she exclaimed, the head warrior placing her face in her hands, concerned by the absurdity of what she was hearing.

"Oh, spirits. Zuko's going to have a fit when he hears about this."

* * *

"Nephew! What happened to you?"

Zuko looked away from his uncle, not wanting to show his bruised face to him; he knew that he would react badly when he finally saw his face, and he had tried to hide it when he came back into the apartment, but Iroh caught on quickly enough. Trying to think of a way to describe what happened without making himself sound utterly foolish was a bit of a challenge, and he gave his uncle a fake smile as he mumbled the first thing that came to his mind.

"I- uh- got beaten up." he told him honestly, the retired general stepping closer with a look of shock on his face.

"Y-you- you didn't use your- you know? Did you?" he asked him without mentioning the specific thing he never ought to mention; they didn't know much about the Dai Li and the security measures around Ba Sing Se, but they knew they were safer never mentioning neither their actual names or their bending.

"No, Uncle. I didn't. Some people saved me from a bunch of ruffians."

Iroh walked over to the sink, grabbing a wet cloth that he had been cleaning their dishes with and wetted it again in the water, before taking it over to his nephew, "Why did this happen? You weren't looking for a fight, were you?" he asked him, the banished prince shaking his head.

"N-no. I'm smart enough to avoid that. I was helping a couple- some men were harassing them for money. Some kind of shakedown, I think." he explained himself, his uncle applying the wet cloth to his face, soothing the pain he felt over it; the ringing in his head had subsided, and now the more obvious pain from being kicked and punched had become apparent.

"Oh, so you were being heroic." his uncle concluded, making Zuko blush.

"Uh- it's not like that Uncle, I was helping them. No one else was going to." he argued, the retired general chuckling.

"I wasn't making fun of you nephew. Being a hero, when no one else will be, isn't a bad thing." he acknowledged, before placing a hand on his shoulder, "But you can't go around getting into fights like that, especially when you might- do something you might regret." he insinuated, the Prince nodding, understanding well enough what he meant by his words.

"I'll try and avoid it." he smiled at him, Iroh nodding before he grabbed the bag of rice and opened it, putting some of the grains into a pot that he had ready.

"So, who saved you? Some bystanders?" he asked, to which he shook his head.

"Not exactly bystanders... they called themselves freedom fighters." he explained, the retired general raising a brow with confusion.

"Freedom fighters, you say? Freedom fighters in Ba Sing Se..." he mumbled, scratching his beard with thought, "I'd say that's a dangerous profession to have."

"I don't think they're actually freedom fighters." he clarified, remembering what Jet had told him, "They used to fight against the Fire Nation, but came here, recently, I think."

"How ironic." he mused, "They saved a-" he was about to state his title, but tempered his tongue, "someone they wouldn't save if they knew who he was."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking." Zuko agreed with his sentiment, "If those guys knew who I was, they'd probably do worse than those ruffians were going to do to me." he acknowledged, "They're dangerous."

"Sounds like it. They beat up a group of ruffians and saved your life. Do you know why?" he asked as he set the spark rocks over some twigs, ready to start boiling the water in his pot, the Prince shrugging his shoulders.

"Pity... or they might want to recruit me. I don't know." he acknowledged, before furrowing a brow, "We might find out soon enough. I invited them to the tea-shop."

"To reward them for saving your life?" Iroh asked with a smug smile.

The fugitive prince walked over to the table and sat himself down, still feeling the pain in his gut, which made it hard for him to walk, "Uh- yeah, I guess."

"Perhaps you can make friends with these 'freedom fighters'. You never know when you might need friends in a place like this." he suggested to Zuko, who sighed as he leaned back into the chair, looking out the window to glance at the night sky, the stars obscured by the city-lights.

"I don't want those ruffians coming after me. The Freedom Fighters... they'd help against that." he admitted, his uncle glancing back over his way.

"Did you want a cup of tea as well?" he questioned his nephew, who scoffed at the idea that he even needed to ask him by that point.

"Um- of course. If there's anything that'll make my day slightly better, it's more tea... seriously." he told him, before face-palming, realising how stupid the words he had just said were, "What have I become?"

"A man who truly appreciates the wonders of tea." Iroh answered his rhetorical question with a giddy smile.

As his uncle began to boil a pot of tea beside their pot of rice, Zuko's lips curled into a smile, knowing his uncle was right; tea was the greatest thing in the world, and he had just been denying it. Glancing out the window once more, he sighed, missing the sight of stars above him; other than the dust and poor choice of food, crossing the Earth Kingdom hadn't been the worst experience of his life- at the very least it was more interesting than the whole three years he had spent on a ship stuck with only his uncle for company. More than anything, he missed Suki- she had left a hole that couldn't be replaced; he didn't want to leave his uncle either, so he was the one stuck having to make hard choices.

"Well, Uncle. I guess this is Ba Sing Se, where people get beaten up and harassed, all despite their struggles to reach the damn place." he acknowledged, his uncle chuckling at his astute criticism of the locale.

"I mean, you are not wrong, nephew." he acknowledged, "But you shouldn't be so sour about it. There's many new opportunities here for us, even if they're not the one's you'd like."

Glancing at his grazed and battered hand, Zuko sighed, before turning to face his uncle, knowing that their time in the city of walls and utter chaos had only just begun.

"One day, I'll get the opportunity I really want." he acknowledged, before clenching his fist confidently, "No matter how many times I have to serve strangers tea... one day, one day I'll be able to finish what I started."

"Your sister will not fold easy." Iroh simply told him, understanding his wishes well enough; the Prince would not bow down, not after all he had suffered, after all that he had learnt- his sister had taught him a few lessons, and he had a few to give in recompense.

"And neither will I."

* * *

Crown Princess Azula didn't want to see the world burn, not yet, when it still had so much to offer her; that didn't mean, however, that she wasn't willing to use power of fire to make her enemies speak. As she stood before a burning Earth Kingdom village, standing back to back with Ty Lee and Mai, she was ready to find out exactly what happened to her brother's little girlfriend and her band of warriors; they wouldn't escape her, not when she had the power of an entire army behind her back. The firebending soldiers she had recruited from War Minister Qin's force that were intended to go through the walls of Ba Sing Se were more than capable of handing down her righteous will down on a punch of peasants; they resisted, but she knew they would only do so for so long. They weren't trained soldiers, and even if they bore weapons stolen from Fire Nation soldiers, during the early hours of dawn, they were under-prepared for a fight, while her soldiers had been marching all day, ready to take down her enemies at a moments notice. She sent flames out of her hands, firing upon a few peasant men who raced at her, their wills respectable even if they were utterly foolish to try and face her; Ty Lee and Mai adeptly covered her back, the chi-blocker quickly dispensing of any men that came close by, and the knife-thrower pinned her opponents to the ground. The fact no girls wearing green dresses bearing fans had come out to fight her indicated to her that the Kyoshi Warriors were intelligent enough to pack up shop and get away from the Fire Nation as quickly as they could; how long prior they had fled, she had no idea, but she knew well enough that her whole personal army mightn't be able to catch up to them, but she still had her mongoose lizards with her on the tank-train, which would be useful to any potential chase they might have. When one of the peasant men got close enough to try and hit her with a jian, she hit the blade out of his hand with a fire-powered punch, before grabbing him by the neck, ready to start making some pre-emptive interrogation.

"Where are they!" she gritted her at the man, who cringed from pain as she singed the sides of his neck as it lay in her grasp.

"Argh!" he yelped, "I don't know what you're talking about!" he told her with fearful eyes.

"Wrong answer!" she declared, throwing him to the ground before taking a firebending stance, "Don't play dumb with me. Where are the Kyoshi Warriors?" she questioned the man, who scampered back in fear.

"I- I don't know! They're not here!" he told her, clasping at his neck with fear, as she approached him, fire daggers forming in her clenched fists.

"You better give me a better answer than that, peasant." she growled, slashing his legs with her fire daggers, singing his pants and causing them to be covered with small embers, "Would you like your legs burnt off?"

"Guan!" she heard another man shout out, the Princess turning her glance to see a burly Earth Kingdom man racing at her with two swords in his hands; he swung the blades at her viciously, but she was able to duck under his swings, a few inches away from being scalped.

"Oh, you brought a friend!" she mockingly derided the peasant man she now knew to be called Guan, "To bad that won't help." she smirked, before spinning her arms around and sending out two arcs of flames at the man who was still trying to hit her with his swords.

He cut through the flames, misunderstanding they were a distraction while she took a stance, moving her hands around, as she charged an electrical current around her, unleashing it in a lightning bolt that struck the man square in the chest, throwing him across into the wall of a nearby house; turning to face Guan, she smirked confidently as he belched with fear, his eyes racing about.

"Now, where are the Kyoshi Warriors?" she asked again, the man pointing behind him toward the hills that lined the horizon, "North! They went north! Just after sunset!" he told her, the fear in his voice indicating to her that he was telling the truth.

"Thank you, Guan. You just saved your own pitiful life." she gave him a glance of authority, knowing that his life meant nothing to her; she had been willing to dispense with him if he thought he could get away with not telling her what she wanted.

She turned to face Ty Lee and Mai, who were still dealing with peasant fighters, who had been mostly knocked out and burned by her forces that had already surrounded the village; she raised a fist, indicating for her soldiers to stop, with even her friends stopping, pausing in the beat-down they were giving the resisting peasants.

"We're done here." she smirked confidently, her hands filled with flames, still ready to knock down any person who thought themselves a worthy opponent; she wasn't opposed as she walked on out of the village, the women and children cowering around the undamaged houses in fear.

Turning to face the firebending soldiers she had brought with her, she directed to the village with a point, "Get any man that resisted us and put them on a gang-chain. Take them to the nearest labour camps- I'm sure you know how to do that." she ordered them, the soldiers immediately getting to work, approaching the fearful but defeated villagers.

She glanced back at Mai and Ty Lee, both looking uneasy at her rather extreme method of getting information; the acrobat cartwheeled over to her, a smile forming on her lips as she looked at her own face.

"Your aura tells me that you know where the Kyoshi Warriors are." she smirked, the Princess nodding.

"Your aura hogwash never lies." she acknowledged in a backhanded compliment; Ty Lee still went along with the joke and chuckled along, albeit a little awkwardly, "We'll be needing our mongoose lizards- they'll see the tank-train approaching. The advantage of surprise should not be underestimated." she explained to her friends before glancing back at the burning village.

"Now, let's get out of this shit place and back to the comfort of the tank-train. I want to have some breakfast before we leave." she acknowledged, Ty Lee gasping with surprise.

"Zula, you read my mind!"


	34. The Hunted

_Holding a piece of parchment in her hands, Crown Princess Azula's hands began to shake as she read its contents; she was not shaking with fear, like any normal person would, but rather from the excitement from what she was reading. Her brother had maimed Commander Zhao in an Agni Kai duel, burning his eye just like their father had done to him; she was ecstatic at the news, because it finally proved that she had won and her uncle had lost their fight over Zuko's fate. She was starting to think her brother had resigned himself to his pitiful fate to travel the world, unable to return home unless he captured the Avatar, who hadn't even been seen in a century; but those thoughts were misplaced, as she now knew her brother had not resigned himself- he had accepted his true fate, the one she had given to him by telling him of Zhao's disparaging comments all those years prior._

_"It finally happened." she mumbled under her breath, rising from her desk, "It finally happened!" she shouted out, clenching her fists, unable to contain her glee, "Zuzu has finally become the man he was destined to be." she declared confidently, glancing down at the parchment._

_"Mother... Uncle... you were both fools to think any other way. He is a dragon, and he just showed the world his flames." she mumbled to herself, as if she were speaking to those two people; she was right, and they were wrong- that was the simple fact of the matter._

_"Oh, I wonder... I wonder what father thinks about this." she considered, raising a finger to her chin, "I guess I proved him wrong as well... unless he truly meant what he said during that Agni Kai." she smugly grinned to herself, raising her arms to stretch out as she looked out of her bedroom's window, "I doubt it. I am the only one who truly understands Zuko, the real Zuko."_

_She turned her heels and walked out of her room, the guards looking at her with confusion as she walked almost with a skip in her step; if they knew her, they might have thought Ty Lee had gone around and possessed her body. That, however, was certainly not the case; she wouldn't ever act so giddy unless she had good reason to. Her emotions weren't just a feeling of momentary bliss, they were of triumph; she could only consider her future conquest of Ba Sing Se to have any comparable affect on her state of mind. With her assumptions confirmed, she was ever sure of herself and that certainty- it was like a drug, and Azula was not one to trifle with such things; she was high off her own self-confidence, so certain that her brother would become the Fire Lord she desired to see of him that nothing could he, or more accurately, nothing could stop Zuko. Determination was one thing, but when he had the courage and pure willpower to go through with one's own desires, he would become an unstoppable force; she had channelled that desire successfully, and she could use it time and time again to finally forge him into the greatest Fire Lord her nation had ever seen. As she walked on down through the hallways of the great and majestic Fire Nation Royal Palace, she felt the eyes of every guard, servant, and official that caught eyes with her graceful steps; she was not sneaking around today- a Princess did not sneak around when she was triumphant._

_Walking up to her father's quarters, she was stopped in her tracks by the Fire Lord's Imperial Guards, who stood ready to disallow her entry; she raised a brow at them, confidently placing her hands on her hips, "I request to see my father." she demanded, one of the guards glancing her way and asking her in a monotonous and serious voice._

_"For what reason?" he asked, the Princess chuckling at his question; she assumed that they had already heard, from his father, who would know about the results of the Agni Kai, as it would concern him greatly, being the father of one of the participants._

_"Have you not heard? I was under the assumption that you had all heard what happened." she glanced at them, the guards looking at her with confusion, "Oh... so father hasn't said a word about it."_

_"About what?" the same guard asked her, to which she simply rolled her eyes; they were truly a stubborn bunch, but in the end that was what made them an effective defence against those would like to disturb the Fire Lord._

_"My brother's victory... not the Avatar, if that's what you were thinking." she stressed, "I would like to see my father to discuss this important 'family event'." she worded herself specifically, the guards stepping out of her way._

_"Very well, the Fire Lord is currently in his study." one of the guards told her, before the doors opened, leading her into her father's personal quarters._

_She didn't give any thanks as she continued to walk onward into her father's quarters, making her way toward the door of his study, which was surprisingly left unlocked; she took the courtesy of knocking on it, and a moment later she heard her father's voice, sounding more calm and suave than she would have initially expected._

_"Daughter?" he asked out, the Princess opening the door to meet her gaze with her father's; he didn't seem angry, happy, sad or conflicted in any way- he was simply sitting in his study, reading what she would presume to be some boring document handed to him by one of his ministers, "Come in, Azula. What is it that you wanted?" he asked her in a tone that could almost be called sarcastic, but she knew her father wasn't one for humour._

_"Father, I wanted to come and see if you heard about what happened?" she asked him, the Fire Lord raising a brow to her before looking back down to his document._

_"You mean about Zuko's Agni Kai? Yes. I heard the reports." he told her, the Fire Lord looking back at her with interest, "How did you find out about it?"_

_"I know you have all the mail sent into the palace checked father, like any good leader would. Zuzu sent it himself, to personally explain to me how he dealt the deed." she explained to him, clarifying whatever information he mightn't already have about the letter, to his slight surprise, although his face soon turned rather distasteful at hearing her rather strong assumptions._

_"That was an accurate assumption, daughter. I did hear about it, as it is my right to know what comes into these palace walls." he simply justified himself, Azula nearly rolling her eyes at the obviousness of what he said; the Fire Lord was the supreme autocrat of his people- he had more than every right to access his daughter's mailbox._

_"So, will you consider your son's actions?" she asked him, Ozai's eyes narrowing at her, scanning her intently for a few moments before responding with a rather cold voice._

_"I'm not going to rescind his banishment for this, if that's what you were wondering." he clarified to her, the Princess sighing, covering up her disappointment with a flick of her hair._

_"That's obvious enough, father." she told him the truth, even though how she phrased it indicated that she agreed with him, even if she didn't, "Zuzu still needs to take down the Avatar, where ever the old airbender is lurking."_

_"Exactly." he agreed with her, even if that wasn't his ultimate motivation for banishing her brother; she understood her father was a proud and spiteful man, and he was willing to drive the strongest punishment even for the smallest sign of disrespect and weakness, "Zuko has shown he has the tenacity to destroy his opponents, and I am... I am glad that he carried through rather than acting as cowardly as I would expect of him."_

_"Would you say your lesson... worked?" she asked him with an intrigued face, the Fire Lord chuckling to himself, realising the consequences of his actions._

_"Hmph- you have an astute judgement, daughter. Perhaps my son will finally prove his worth, when he returns with the Avatar in chains; he has certainly proved that he can take down a master firebender like Commander Zhao, the master of the elements is the next step for him." Ozai concluded, the Princess smirking at her father's words; they were half-truths, as both of them knew Zuko couldn't reasonably find the Avatar, but he most certainly could become someone his father might consider to be a proper heir- whether he would take him back, was another question._

_"Yes, father. You are quite right." she agreed, her lips curling in thought, "He will prove himself, there is no doubt about it."_

_Looking at the sense of fear in her father's eyes was enough to prove her wrong; her father wasn't understood Zuko, and more than that, he was afraid of him. Fire Lord Ozai had built his world on the assumption that he was insurmountable as the most powerful firebender alive and the ruler of the greatest nation in the world; this assumption could be toppled by one boy, who though barely a man, showed the potential to be more driven than even him. The greatest power she held in the world was fear, and by making the Fire Lord himself scared, she was the most powerful person in the world._

* * *

"Suki! Wake up!"

The leader of the Kyoshi Warriors opened her eyes, covering them with her hand as she cringed from the light of the early morning; she realised as she opened her eyes it was only sunrise, and she had no idea why she was being woken up so early, but she guessed well enough it was for good reason. Glancing about, she realised Sawa was the one who woke her up, the warrior's face masked not with face-paint but rather an expression of fear.

"What's... what's wrong?" she asked her, to which she simply pointed back behind them, Suki pulling herself out of her sleeping roll, wiping the sleep from her eyes as she tried to gain her bearings; then she made sight of it in the corner of her eye- smoke, lots of smoke, in the direction from which they had walked earlier that morning, "Oh fuck." she mumbled, her fellow warrior nodding in agreement.

"Oh fuck is exactly what I said when I saw it." she told her, eyes racing about, "I dozed off at the start of my watch, but when I came to, all I could see was this, and I had to wake you." she explained herself, the head warrior nodding, before she got to her feet, wearing nothing but her undergarments.

"Rise and shine ladies!" she shouted out, the other sleeping Kyoshi Warriors raising their heads in confusion.

"Wh... what's going on?" Nakata mumbled, her eyes widening as she saw the smoke, "Oh shit!" she shouted, punching Amari, who was still dazed, sitting in her own sleeping roll beside her.

"Ow, what was that for?" she asked, gritting her teeth with frustration, her friend pushing head to turn in the direction of the smoke.

"Oh- oh... that's a lot of smoke." she mumbled, "D-did we just get that village destroyed." she mumbled, Suki glancing back toward the smokestacks with fear.

"I wish that wasn't the truth... but there's no other explanation." she mumbled, before she clenched her fists, realising they only had one choice, "We have to run."

"Run?" Esumi asked her, "We're... we aren't even out of bed." she mumbled, the head warrior glancing at her and all of the other warriors.

"We need to get out of here. For all we know the Fire Nation might be about to ambush us already." she exclaimed, her voice growing louder with fear as she continued along, "Do you want to be captured by the Fire Nation?" she asked them, all of the warriors shaking their heads, "Exactly. Pack your things, we're leaving right now."

She got to work, quickly tightening her armour pieces over her chest and shoulders, and putting her boots on, readying herself for a fight as quickly as she could; Suki leaned over and immediately packed her sleeping roll up, before binding it with two short ropes, running a bit of string through it to sling it over her shoulder. The head warrior was silently glad they didn't have their tents anymore, as that would have taken them even longer to pack up; she leaned over and grabbed her sheathed katana and two fans, sliding them into her belt snugly, before she slung her bag over her shoulder. With her weapons at the ready, she could confidently declare that she was prepared for a fight if one came their way, but was far more confident to say they ought to run while they still had the chance; it wasn't cowardice if it was more than likely a determined and powerful Fire Nation force had been sent out to annihilate them. The safety of her warriors was paramount above all else, even her own honour as a warrior; she would protect them with her own life if that was what it took, because that was her duty to them as their selected leader. She glanced at her fellow warriors for a few moments before walking to the centre of the camp, standing by the ashes of their campfire from the night prior. Although they weren't too much slower than her, she had grown impatient and fearful as the last of their group, unsurprisingly, Amari, finished preparing herself, already readying her fans.

"Let's go. We need to get ahead of them before they catch our trail." she explained, the warriors glancing at their feet consciously.

"How can we get rid of our prints?" Nakata asked her, lifting up her boot to look at it with a uncomfortable glance.

"Going barefoot would just slow us down." she noted, before glancing down the hill, where she had made sight of what she assumed to be streams the night prior, "We'll get to a stream, walk on through it for a bit, and hopefully they will lose our trail; even make a few fake prints to confuse them." she suggested, the warriors nodding along before she turned her heels, "Come on!" she waved them along, quickly increasing her pace as she made her way from the camp and into the sparse forest that surrounded them.

She began to race on down the hill as fast as she could wearing her dress and armour; she was trained to be as physically capable as possible wearing it. If they didn't wear armour at all, they could outrun any army that came their way on foot, but she knew well enough that the Fire Nation had cavalry they could use to their advantage; they didn't even have an ostrich-horse to their name, let alone something as powerful as a komodo-rhino. It was better for the Kyoshi Warriors to remained as well defended as possible rather than risk being caught with nothing but their fans and katanas. Soon enough the group was deep into the forest, racing past the trees, dodging any rocks and bushes in their path; the sound of flowing water was audible in the distance, and she kept her pace up, closing in on with every passing stride. When she made sight of the water, she sighed with relief, knowing that it'd be the easiest way for them to get the Fire Nation off their trail.

"We found one!" Nakata exclaimed, raising a fist with confidence, before she looked Suki's way, "Uh, so how exactly are we going to make fake tracks?" she asked her, to which she turned her eyes to glance across the small stream to make sight of the other side.

"We walk forward for a bit, and then carefully step back through our tracks and then go down stream." she simply put it, the warriors all nodding along, following her footsteps as she made her way down the short bank into the lightly flowing stream; it had enough water in it that they'd be able to get off relatively dry, but still avoid leaving evidence of walking through it.

Wading through the water for a few moments, she stepped out the other side, her boots covered in mud, much to her disappointment; she couldn't help it, however, and made no complaint as she struggled to walk up the other bank with slippery feet. As the other Kyoshi Warriors came up behind, they similarly struggled with climbing up, Suki crouching by the side to offer her hand in assistance; after helping each of the warriors along, they all got in line on the other side of the stream, ready to make their fake tracks.

"We walk up to... that tree," she pointed out a tree in the distance, "drop our bags around, make it look like we had a rest there before picking everything up and retracing our steps back here." she explained to her warriors, Amari smirking at the suggestion of her plan.

"This is complicated, but this is my kind of trickery." she punched a fist into her palm, cracking her knuckles.

"Now, let's be quick about it. The Fire Nation could be here before we know it." she reminded her friends before she quickly began to pace her way up toward the tree she had pointed to; she realised it was a far bit away from the stream, but she knew the further it was the more convincing it would be for who ever ended up following them into the forest.

The warriors were light on their feet, and their mud-covered boots made noticeable tracks for potential pursuers to follow; when she reached the tree she had marked out, Suki took a deep breath before dropping her sleeping roll and sitting down for a moment. She had found an excuse for a break, as well as a good way to make sure her enemies believed her trick; Amari sat beside her, stretching her arms out, exaggerating her desire to relax.

"Ahhh... and you told us we had to be as quick as possible." she pointed to her with a smug grin, the head warrior rolling her eyes with disappointment.

"We do need to be as quick as possible. That's why we're only sitting down for a few moments." she stressed, the other warriors following suite and dropping to the ground, getting rid of anything they were carrying on their shoulders.

"This... should look realistic, right?" Esumi asked her, to which she smiled, confident in her plan.

"There's no way the Fire Nation is going to figure out exactly where we went, even if they see through the false trail." she acknowledged, Sawa scratching her chin.

"Maybe we should start a little campfire as well. That'd make it even more realistic." she suggested, the head warrior shaking her head.

"There's no need. We wouldn't be making one anyway if we were really resting." she told her subordinates, who looked tired already; they had to wake up as early as possible and race down through a forest to find a way to get the Fire Nation off their backs, so she wasn't surprised that the pure stress and rush of the situation had made them dazed and dishevelled.

Returning to her feet, Suki slung her sleeping roll back over her shoulder before she began to walk back the way she came, specifically stepping over the tracks that were already present, making a concerted effort to be as careful as she could in making any new tracks; she walked backwards through the forest, following the tracks that had been laid before her, and eventually the sound of the stream rushing behind her became loud enough for her to glance back and see it right behind her shoulder. She stood by the edge of the stream, awaiting the other warriors, who slowly made their way back just as she did; the pace they took was almost leisurely, but she didn't blame them- their tracks couldn't look out of place, otherwise their plan would be for nothing.

When they all made their way to the same spot she had, Suki glanced back, placing her hands on her hips confidently, "Now, we jump." she ordered them, the Kyoshi Warriors looking amongst themselves, utterly confused.

Nakata cleared her throat, "Uh, what? Did you just say jump?" she asked, the head warrior nodding in confirmation, pointing down to the stream that sat below them.

"If we scramble down the bank, it'll look more suspicious." she honestly told them, "Now, if you're all going to just stand there, I guess I'll just have to show you." she curled her lips, before she jumped backwards down into the water, her legs dropping in first before they hit the riverbed an instant later, her heels digging into the mud below; she looked up and began to wade along through the stream, "Well, what are you waiting for? Do you want to be captured?" she asked them, the warriors looking amongst themselves for a moment before Amari jumped in, seemingly more eager than she had been, landing down as if she was about to kick someone in the head.

As she began to wade downstream, she glanced up toward the morning sky above them,brightly lit by the morning sun, grimacing in thought of what was to come for her and the Kyoshi Warriors; she had done what she could to keep them safe, and as they swam down a stream to an unknown destination, she could only feel a sense of fear. There was a plan, in the end, but she didn't know if she'd be able to avoid getting imprisoned or worse when she had two nations on her trail; it was a given that the Earth Kingdom army probably wouldn't capture them, but their lack of threat was outweighed by the overwhelming reach of the Fire Nation, which she knew was powerful enough to build ships the size of palaces and things like whatever those villagers had been forced to construct. The feeling that they could come down upon them, whole units of firebenders at the ready made her long for her home and old life, before she had decided to take a step into the unknown; Suki shook her head, not wanting to feel any semblance of regret. She had done everything she did for the greater good of the Earth Kingdom, and for the innocents who had been caught up in the shitty world she and everyone else had to call home; that was her duty, and she would fight on as long as she had any sense in her mind and any fire in her heart.

* * *

"Nephew, I think I see the people you were talking about."

Zuko's eyes widened with shock, realising that he'd given his uncle a good enough description of the Freedom Fighters to spot them at random; he turned his ninety degrees, and confirmed his uncle's suspicions- Jet was standing at the door, and a smile curled on the Freedom Fighter's lips as he made sight of the Prince. He averted his gaze and grabbed the tray that held a tea pot and a number of cups that sat before him; Iroh grasped his shoulder before he could walk off and serve tea.

"You should give them tea yourself. It's a little courtesy for them helping you." he suggested to Zuko, who nodded, understanding his reasoning; they did at the very least deserve for him to serve them tea, no matter how much they made him feel uncomfortable.

The Freedom Fighters eyes were on him as he walked over to a table, pouring some tea for some local guards, who smiled at him as he arrived, raising their cups after he poured them some.

"This is the best tea in the city, I tell you, boys." one of the soldiers remarked, the Prince tilting his head to indicate to his uncle.

"Perhaps you could thank the maker." he suggested, the guard turning to give Iroh a wave, much to the retired general turned tea-maker's surprise; he bowed with a grin, accepting the respect he had been given by the guard, who looked as ecstatic as Amari did when she drank his jasmine tea.

Zuko made a little smile, appreciating the deference his uncle received, knowing that he deserved it for the time he had spent refining his tea-making; he had spent far too long leaving his skill unacknowledged, and he still had a lot of time to make up for that. Turning around he noticed Jet holding up a hand, obviously indicating for him to come over; the banished Prince rolled his eyes, knowing that he would likely start to speel about why he ought to join their gang.

Stepping over to him, the Freedom Fighter cleared his throat and smirked at him, "Hey, Lee. We came for that tea you mentioned." he explained himself, making the fugitive prince curl his lips; for no reason in particular, he felt a certain urge to brag.

"Uncle makes the best tea, I assure you." he stressed, before glancing at the other Freedom Fighters, who were silently sitting with him on the table, "What would you like?"

Smellerbee glanced his way, "Uh, green tea..." before she looked at Longshot for a moment, whose eyes narrowed for a moment, "He'll have the same."

"And you?" he asked Jet, who smirked, pulling the sprig of wheat out of his mouth.

"Oh, what do you recommend?" he asked him, sounding genuinely curious as to what Zuko would tell him.

"Jasmine tea is my personal favourite." he simply told him the truth, the Freedom Fighter tilting his head and nodding.

"Well then, jasmine it is."

He opened his palm, asking them for the money to pay for said tea, before he clenched his fist, "I'll get right to it." he assured the group, before turning his heels and pacing himself over to his uncle.

Pacing over to Iroh, he placed the tray he had been holding down in front of him, before he cleared his throat, "Uh, they ordered one jasmine and two green teas." he explained simply, handing his uncle some coins to pay for it; his voice became quieter as he acknowledged what he was doing, "I'm paying back my debt- in tea."

"Oh, that is quite the method you have chosen, nephew." he grinned, giving him a wink before turning around to begin preparing the tea he had requested.

He grabbed another tray of tea pots, and took it to another table, already aware who had ordered it; he took the tea over to the table, serving a couple their tea, before taking the tray back to his uncle. When he returned, his uncle already had two pots ready, and Zuko immediately picked them up onto his tray, grabbing three cups and placing them alongside, taking them along as he walked over to the Freedom Fighters, who raised a brow at him.

"Huh, that was fast, Lee." Jet mumbled, the Prince's eyes turning back to glance at his uncle, before they returned to face the Freedom Fighter.

"Y-yeah, Uncle is good at making tea." he acknowledged, hoping that his uncle hadn't been using his firebending to speed up his process of making tea; he already knew that the Freedom Fighters had a distaste toward the Fire Nation, and certainly didn't want to arouse any suspicions.

After he poured tea into cups for each of them, he grabbed the trays, ready to leave them be, but Jet cleared his throat, obviously wanting to ask a question, "Lee, I was wondering if we could help you, and if you could help us." he simply told him, without directly telling him that he wanted him to join his gang.

"I- I'm here to protect my uncle. I don't want to get into any unnecessary trouble... no offense." he tried to ward off his offer, the Freedom Fighter insisting.

"But you've already got into trouble. We could help you, Lee, and I'm sure you're pretty tough yourself." he explained, the Prince able to tell that he was looking at his burnt eye, making him twitch in frustration; one of the worst things that had ever happened to him just happened to come around and bite him again, in an unexpected manner.

Zuko, unsure how to respond, gave him a question he liked to give himself from time to time, "Why do you fight?"

"Why do I fight?" he asked him, sounding almost offended, although if he actually was, he was doing a good job hiding it, "Because some... some evil, horrible ash-makers burnt my village to the ground. That's why." he gritted his teeth, "Riding in on their big animals, killing innocent people, I couldn't stand for it. That's why the Freedom Fighters exists." he explained himself, seemingly taking a decent effort not blast into a blind fury, his fuming anger still visible from his clenched fists and flared teeth.

The Prince's eyes widened, realising his description was very familiar, "The Rough Rhinos..."

"The rough who?" Smellerbee asked, confused by his murmuring; Jet however, seemed far less confused, and more aggrieved.

"That's who burnt down your village." he simply told him, honestly sure that was the case; there was no part of the Fire Nation army that specifically was a cavalry unit that specialised in raiding and destroying enemy settlements.

"How do you know?" he asked him, Zuko deciding that there was one lie he had to make, to assure that Jet wouldn't harass him any further.

"Because they burnt down mine." he declared, Jet's eyes widening with shock, "That's why I'm here."

Longshot and Smellerbee were both somewhat surprised by his response, and the leader of the Freedom Fighters cleared his throat, "I see... is that why you don't want to join us? Because of what happened?" he asked him, indicating without any motions but that of his eyes to his scar.

It was a good enough lie, and Zuko stuck with it, "Yes. Now, please, enjoy your tea. I paid for it." he told them, hoping that he had earned their respect, but had warded them off from trying to drag him into their gang and whatever they got up to.

Jet blinked a few times before nodding, looking unsure how to respond, "Uh, thanks."

Walking back over to his uncle, who looked at him with slight confusion, seeing his mood had soured, "Nephew, what's wrong?"

"I got them off my back... but now all I can feel is guilt." he admitted, the retired general's eyes narrowing as he approached.

"Zuko, what did you say?" he asked, the Prince shaking his head.

"It's not what I said, it's what I didn't do."

* * *

Putting her hand over what remained of a campfire, Azula felt to see how warm the embers were; she guessed from their relatively lukewarm temperature that the Kyoshi Warriors, if they had indeed been the ones to camp around the fire she had found, had been gone for a few hours at the very least, assuming they had their fire on all night. She glanced about, looking for more evidence of their presence, only really taking notice of a bit of dirt kicked up on the ground below; raising her head, she turned her eyes to Mai and Ty Lee, who were awkwardly standing about the campsite.

"If it was them, they were here this morning." she argued, "But they've been gone for a while."

Ty Lee glanced up to note the position of the sun in the sky, "Zula, it's only noon. They can't have gotten that far." she acknowledged, the warrior shrugging her shoulders.

Her eyes peered around and took note of what looked to be the light indentations of tracks, "There's tracks right here." she pointed them out, before her hand followed downhill, noting that they continued, "We'll follow the tracks on our mongoose-lizards. Surely we will have them in our grasps, soon enough."

She walked over to her mongoose-lizard and mounted the saddle, before grabbing the beast's reins, leading along downhill, following the tracks as she saw them; although she could clearly see ahead, her steed was slowed by the pure number of trees that forced its speed down, lest it ram into a tree trunk. She lamented the mental weakness of animals compared her own astute mind, knowing that she was just as capable of racing through a forest if need be. Azula lead it forward all the way down the slope, the tracks consistently continuing on down toward the middle of the valley; she raised a brow, thinking as to where the Kyoshi Warriors were planning on running to- they had no where to go but literally into the middle of nowhere. Eventually she reached a stream, which flowed down through the centre of the valley, and made sight of tracks continuing across the other side; she pointed over the creek, indicating for Mai and Ty Lee, who were pursuing after her at a more leisurely pace, to follow her across. Her mongoose-lizard seemed to be unfazed by the water, quickly splashing it's legs through and scrambling up the other bank of the stream, before she pushed on its reins, directing it to follow along the tracks she could still see; she led it along for a minute until she realised after glancing about that the tracks had just disappeared into thin air. The Princess dismounted, setting her hands alight with deep blue flames; if the tracks disappeared, then her enemies could be ready to ambush her.

Glancing up to the trees above her, she gritted her teeth and shouted out, "Come out now! I promise I won't kill you!" she demanded, after hearing a few moments of silence and scanning the tree trunks, that there as certainly no Kyoshi Warriors hiding up above her.

"Why did you just start screaming?" Mai asked her, sitting atop her mongoose-lizard with a sceptical glance; the Princess clenched her fists, looking about the area- her enemies had disappeared into thin air, or at the very least, their tracks had.

"A group of warriors can't just disappear into thin air." she grumbled, Ty Lee raising a brow.

"Really? I've heard about spirits kidnapping people around the Earth Kingdom." she suggested, Azula rolling her eyes.

"That's the most absurd, and therefore least likely explanation." she told her friend in a rather condescending tone, "I'm sure they've sneaked around. They're trying to throw us off." she growled, before she grabbed the saddle of her mongoose-lizard once more, ready to mount and continue their search.

"But where did they walk from here?" Mai asked her, "People always leave tracks." she stressed a rather common-sense approach, the Princess raising a brow, before she pushed her creature forward, approaching the end of the tracks that she could see.

"The group moves out from their line here. They must have taken a rest, but then the tracks disappear." she simply observed, "Unless they didn't disappear." she smirked, realising an obvious trick that she hadn't considered, "They could walk over their old tracks back the other direction, and we couldn't even notice it, unless we gave it a good look." she suggested, Ty Lee narrowing her eyes, jumping off of her mongoose-lizard and landing down on the forest floor in a display of her acrobatic ability.

She scanned her fingers across the tracks, and pointed out something that looked odd, "Shoes usually are pointed at the front, right? These tracks all are, almost square. These warriors don't wear sandals, do they?" she asked, the Princess smirking, her presumptions confirmed.

"No, they do not. That's the double tracks." she declared, before she made a hand motion toward Ty Lee, "Get on your mongoose-lizard. We need to follow the tracks and figure out where they tried to fool us."

"Wait, Azula." Mai mumbled, "I think I've got something better than the Kyoshi Warriors." she told her, riding her mongoose-lizard away from the tracks, before she dismounted, grabbing something from the forest floor; when she turned around, she revealed a bit of white fur in her hand, and pointed some more out above her, lodged in a tree branch.

Azula approached, glancing at the fur in his friends hand, which as she got closer became more apparent to be the fur of the Avatar's sky-bison; this news came as a surprise to the Princess, who believed that the Avatar must've gone to cower behind the walls of Ba Sing Se.

She raised a finger to her chin, considering in thought what this meant for her plans, "Hmmm- perhaps the Kyoshi Warriors are meeting with their old friend, the Avatar." she suggested, the stoic girl nodding with agreement.

"That makes a lot of sense doesn't it... but then-" she mumbled, the Princess cutting her off, knowing exactly what she was about to mention.

"My brother might be getting himself into bed with the Avatar and his gang of morons- yes, there's a possibility." she acknowledged, before she furrowed a brow, "But the reports we have tell us that there was no Zuko with these warrior women... leading us to an even more unsettling possibility."

"What could be scarier than Zuko joining the Avatar?" Ty Lee asked her, the Princess clenching her fists with anger.

"I've been focusing on Uncle all this time," she told them, before she eyed Mai, almost subconsciously, "and I failed to see the real threat to Zuko's loyalty."

"Zuko has always been a romantic fool. Three years at sea won't change that." her face remained stiff, attempting to show as little emotion as possible as she spoke about the Princess's brother, "Azula, you're trying to tell me that-"

"That his little girlfriend is going to make him do it."

* * *

As she felt the slobber dripping off her face, Amari acknowledged that she didn't exactly enjoy being licked by the Avatar's sky-bison; she and the other warriors had done their best to fix him up, and it seemed that he wanted to return the favour in with a sticky swipe over their faces. She was surprised that their running about the forest had led to them camping right nearby where Appa had landed and seemingly got into some kind of fight with boar-q-pine; his injuries were mostly superficial, but he was dirty from what looked like a number of weeks flying about by himself. Their luck was a boon, and the usually aggrieved Kyoshi Warrior felt a sense of confidence that things were looking up; they could give the Avatar back his bison, where-ever he was, which at the very least gave them a mission that wouldn't involve risking their lives. There was only so many Fire Nation arses she could kick before she lost a fight and ended up spirit's know where in a labour camp that made the chores they gave Zuko look like a holiday.

"Well, he seems as harmless as a koi fish." Nakata acknowledged, "And you thought he was going to try and eat us, Amari." she chided her rather extreme chain of thought.

She raised her hands defensively, "Hey, what can I say? I enjoy a healthy amount of paranoia."

"Paranoia isn't healthy." Sawa chided her, "Isn't that right boss?"

Suki rolled her eyes, "Being paranoid doesn't help anyone... but Amari does have a point. You have to be prepared for things."

"Like running through a forest for a whole day?" Amari asked her, the head warrior nodding in confirmation.

"Yes, exactly like that. The Fire Nation can still come down on us at any moment." she admitted, "Maybe we should fly on Appa out of here... it'd be safer than walking him along to wherever Aang, Sokka and Katara are at the moment."

"About that... how do we actually figure out where they are? We can't exactly find out very easily." Esumi mumbled, "We are wanted by both the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation. Who exactly are we going to ask for help, the Water Tribes?"

"I mean that's our only choice if we go that way, but wouldn't it be easier to ask about sightings of the Avatar?" Suki suggested conversely, the warriors nodding along with agreement.

Suddenly Amari heard a thundering noise behind her, something that reminded her of a very specific occasion; that being, when Zuko had killed a Fire Nation solider by shooting a hole through him with lightning. A tree fell down to the forest floor, making an even larger bang, the attention of the Kyoshi Warriors turning behind them; turning her head, her guess was confirmed as she saw three girls mounted on mongoose-lizards, one of them wearing a confident smirk on her face, one that reminded her again of someone very familiar.

"Is that Zuko's sister and the chi-blocker?" she eyed her superior, who could only grimace as she nodded in confirmation.

"My, my, you were easier to catch than I thought you'd be." she declared confidently, before Suki stepped forward.

"If you're looking for the Avatar, you're out of luck." she declared, the Princess's lips curling as she glared at them with devious intent.

"Oh, I wasn't. I was looking for you." before she pointed at their leader, "Specifically you, Suki." she uttered her name, much to the shock of the head warrior, who was unnerved by the idea that her opponent knew exactly who she was, "No Avatar actually makes this a little easier. You're just a bunch of girls with fans."

"What does that make you?!" Amari pointed at her accusingly, the Princess somewhat taken aback by her, before she simply shrugged, the smug grin remaining steadfast on her face.

"A girl who could beat all of you." she told them, before clearing her throat, raising a fist covered in blue flames, "Will beat all of you." before she threw a fire blast their way, the Warriors swiftly moving together, using their fans to shield themselves and Appa from the flames.

The Princess and her friends moved forward, jumping off their mounts and heading toward the warriors in a pincer motion; Amari turned her stance to face one of the girls, who wore long dark robes and had the most ridiculous looking hairstyle she'd seen in a while. She threw a number of blades at her, the Kyoshi Warrior instinctively pulling her fan in front of her torso, deflecting one of her thrown weapons, the other two jabbing the sleeves of her dress, pinning her to the tree-trunk behind her.

"You're so colourful, it's making me nauseous." she drily mumbled, ignoring the Kyoshi Warrior as she struggled to pull herself free from the tree.

Offended that her opponent would simply walk away, she gritted her teeth before thrusting her arms back, cutting at the sleeves of her dress before they were cleanly sliced open, leaving her with green fabric hanging down from her arm-guards.

"Hey!" she shouted, grabbing out of the blades lodged in the tree behind her, "Colour yourself with this!" she mocked her throwing the blade with a decent amount of accuracy, cutting through the shoulder padding of her opponent's outfit, much to her shock as she was thrown down to the ground; her practical joke didn't have the desired effect, as the knife-thrower wasn't colouring her outfit with blood, but she realised that defeating her fellow non-benders wasn't anything compared to the Princess herself, who was duelling Suki with her flames.

She saw Esumi throwing her fans at the Princess, trying to distract her as she was giving their leader a seriously tough fight; the distraction worked for a moment, their enemy's attention turning away to face the Kyoshi Warrior who had nearly hit her in the head. Amari raced forward to help Suki, who leaned over to grab her katana, which had been lodged in a tree trunk. Before she could reach her friend, she was distracted by Appa suddenly lifting off and flying over them; it seemed that they weren't going to be flying away with their own route of escape. Knowing that it was beat or be beaten, the Kyoshi Warrior's resolve became more intense; losing wasn't an option, so she decided she would give it all she had.

"Boss! How are we going to beat them?" she asked, glancing back to see the Princess approaching them, ready to set them alight with her intimidating deep blue flames.

"By doing what we do best, returning our opponents strengths against them." she smirked, readying her blade in her hands while her subordinate drew out her fans, ready to fight Zuko's sister; she had never had the chance to truly settle her score with him, and the appearance of his 'crazy firebending sister' gave her a great opportunity to do so.

"Oh, I've been looking forward to this." she smirked, not intimidating the equally confident firebender.

Her opponent didn't acknowledge her words with a quip of her own, simply sending out a kick of flames, which she was able to deflect with her fan shield; the Princess jumped forward, not relenting to hammer a fist of flames into her shield, which was flung back, nearly out of her hands. Amari smirked at her with a thought in mind, and as her opponent threw a flame-covered fist right at her head, she flung her shield up at her, hitting the Princess in her chest, seemingly winding her; firebenders needed to breath, and the disadvantage she had dealt down, the Kyoshi Warrior raced at her. Before she could tackle her opponent, a dagger of flames sliced up, cutting at her face and singing her eyebrows, all before the Princess's knuckle connecting with her chin; the strike hit her glancingly, but the pain of her teeth clattering together was enough to make her cry out. Stumbling back in pain, she gritted her teeth as her opponent grabbed her shoulder, her other hand filled with flames, ready to burn her face; Amari leaned forward, slamming her forehead viciously into the Princess's nose, blood splattering out as she fell back, her flame-covered fist never connecting with the Kyoshi Warrior's head.

"Ah-ah, y-yeah, that's right." she mocked her dazed but clearly conscious opponent, despite being barely able to speak.

"Y-you bitch..." she growled, her facade of self-confidence crumbling into one of actual anger, her teeth flared as she bent two stream of fire out of her hands; though she was agile, she was able to get her hands up quickly enough to block the jets of fire, which struck her square in the chest, throwing her to the ground, skidding across the forest floor on her back.

Groaning in pain, she couldn't do much to stop her opponent approaching Suki, who readied her katana, prepared to have a showdown with the Princess, "You're going to pay for that, Azula."

"Oh, is that so?" she mocked the head warrior and her defeated companion, who struggled to return to her feet, still pained from the strike she had received; she was wearing her armour that protected her most vital organs, but she guessed that she would get some bruising on her back from the fall.

The head warrior's katana swung down at the Princess, who dodged the attack before striking her forearm, forcing her to release her hold on the blade; though she had lost her weapon, she still drew out her fans, ready to deflect any fire blasts that came her way. Azula threw her strength into a powerful charged kicked, which threw Suki back, nearly off her feet; before she could return to a more formidable stance, the Princes sent another kick her way, making her tumble back, yelping in pain from hitting her back on the ground.

Amari, who was laying nearby, barely able to move, gritted her teeth at her leader's defeat, "Get up, boss! You can't give up!" she demanded of her, the leader of the Kyoshi Warrior rising up from the ground, holding her fans at the ready; the determined glare that she could spot assured her that her superior was going to fight as hard as she could against the Princess, whose companions had already immobilised the other Kyoshi Warriors.

Without a word, she retracted one of her fans, spinning around before throwing it at her opponent, striking her leg and forcing her to drop down onto one knee; Azula responded in kind with a fireball, directed at Suki's head, which she quickly dispersed off with a slice from her other fan. She raced forward to strike the Princess, ready to counter any blows she sent her way; her opponent however, instead of trying to hit her weapon away, sent a fireball right toward her head, aiming for the side furthest away from the fan. Quick to react, she thrust the fan out in front of the blast, blocking it; however, to Amari's surprise, the Princess sent another fireball her way, this time aiming for her unguarded forearm that had moved across her face. The flames covered her forearm and got close to licking her face, the warrior shouting in pain as her forearm-guard was set alight; the head warrior reflexively threw her arm down at Azula, who was able to block her strike before jabbing her burnt arm, throwing the fan out of her hand. Before the Princess could strike Suki down with her flames, the head warrior grabbed something from her belt- it was Zuko's dagger; it nearly stabbed her opponent in the gut, but she missed, and her wrist was immediately grabbed by Azula.

"Now, now, that's just foul play." she chided the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors, before she flung Suki's arm back, the knife flying out of her hand and to the ground behind her, "You wouldn't kill your future sister-in-law, would you?"

"Sister-in-law?" the head warrior almost laughed at her, before she realised what she was saying, her eyes widening with realisation; Zuko's sister knew about their relationship, which means she knew exactly the kind of bargaining chip she could be- that was a recipe for a seriously angry firebender, if Amari had ever heard of one.

The Princess mercilessly jabbed Suki square in the gut, forcing her to her knees, momentarily glancing to her side, seeing her friend look on fearfully; her eyes darted to the dagger, which lay down on the ground nearby.

As her opponent knelt below her, winded and pained from their fight, Azula grasped her by the neck, confident in her victory, "You're going to tell me about Zuzu." she demanded, making Suki chuckle at the nickname; the other Kyoshi Warrior who laid nearby considered laughing, but she didn't want to draw attention to herself, when she had an opportunity at hand.

Amari leaned forward, grasping the dagger from the ground, fawning that she was still incapable of walking, groaning as she slumped to ground beside them.

"Huh- I would, but I've- uh- got some better advice to hand out." the head warrior suggested, the Princess forming a small dancing ringlet of flames in her fingers.

"Oh, really, what would that be?"

"There's only one person I've ever heard 'Zuzu' compare to you." she admitted, the Princess looking at her with a smug grin; before she could ask her who, the head warrior simply smirked, "She's right beside you."

Amari was already on her feet, thrusting the dagger right at the Princess's throat; she was barely an inch away when Azula grabbed her arm, her eyes turning to face her, "Now... that was quite the move. I must applaud you for it." she acknowledged with a cold tone; the Kyoshi Warrior gritted her teeth, throwing her other arm forward to try and force the blade closer to her neck, but was stopped by a sudden numbness in her arms.

Glancing to her side, she made sight of the chi-blocker, who confidently stood beside the Princess, before she jabbed Amari in the chest, throwing her to the ground; the Princess had already grabbed a hold of the dagger, spinning it around in her fingers, her lips curled as she eyed it.

"My brother did not misjudge your character, but alas, you just had to let your leader monologue and give you away." she smirked, before sliding dagger into it's sheath, which she had grabbed off of Suki's belt, "To think that I nearly died by the blade I desired so much as a little as a little girl... that would have been as poetic as Zhao's demise." Amari's eyes widening, realising who she was talking about.

"Hey! I wanted to kill the side-burns arsehole!"


	35. Lovers and Liars

_The thundering noise that shook the ship made Iroh tense up with fear; his nephew had just stepped out onto the deck of the ship a few moments prior, but he had been preoccupied with racing down the hallway to get all of the men into gear. Zuko was right, they were under attack, and now was no time for him to use neutral jing; he needed to react, and react quickly._

_"Everyone! Get out of bed! We're under attack!" he shouted out, Lieutenant Jee immediately opening the door from his quarters, his face paled with fear._

_"General! We need to get to the steamer at once! The crews' lives are in danger!" he requested of him, almost demandingly; he understood exactly why he felt that way, and agreed whole-heartedly; he glanced around the other way toward the door that led out the front to the deck, where his nephew had gone to investigate._

_"Lieutenant, round up the men and get to the steamer. I'll meet you there, I have to make sure my nephew's all right." she told him sternly, Jee nodding without a word before he ran to the stairwell, going to find whoever wasn't in their quarters when their ship began to be bombarded._

_Another explosion rocked the ship, right above them; the flames, shrapnel and smoke came down the stairwell, as if the entire top of the bridge had been annihilated. For all Iroh knew, that could have been what happened; he quickly raced toward the doorway, but was stopped when another explosion rocked the ship, the door flying off its hinges and right toward him. He deflected the metal door with a powerful fire blast from his palm; he was unharmed, but with the door blocking his path, it made it more challenging to reach the deck, which from what he could see was covered with flames. He made a wave of fire with his right hand and thrust it leftward, hitting the door and forcing it up against the wall, giving him a clear path to walk out to the deck. Reaching the doorway, he realised that he might have made a mistake going there; all he saw was the entire deck ripped up by flaming balls of rock, the debris of which lay around the ship. Glancing out to his right, he could make out a number of ships in the distance, only noticeable by the faint light coming from their bridges- Fire Nation ships. Whatever was going on, it wasn't an Earth Kingdom attack, pirates, or even the Water Tribe seeking revenge on the Southern Raiders; it was his own countrymen, coming to destroy the ship of their own Prince. He dismissed the idea as implausible, but as he saw another fireball coming his way, he gritted his teeth in anger, racing down the hallway to avoid being struck by the flaming debris of an exploding rock._

_"Zuko!" he yelled out, "Where are you?!" he screamed even louder, unknowing of what had happened to him; there was one thing he knew for sure, and that was that he wasn't on the deck._

_The retired general ran down the hallway, feeling the ship rumble and shift below his feet; as he reached the other end of the brig, he was joined by an number of other crew members; they were surprised to see his rather fearful and unkempt look, one of them glancing at him with shock._

_"Sir, what happened?" he asked him, Iroh waving his hand and reaching to open the rear door of the brig, opening it for the crew._

_"M-my- we need to go." he demanded, "Go!" he ordered, more strongly in tone; if anything he didn't want the lives of the crew on his hands, let alone Zuko._

_He raced out of the door with them, following down to the steamer, where Jee and the other crew-members were awaiting them, the boat ready to launch down into the waters below; another fireball struck the hull of the ship, throwing the retired general down to the ground. One of the crew offered a hand, and he eagerly accepted, before following the rest of them down into the boat._

_"General... where's the Prince?" the Lieutenant asked him, to which he simply glanced back to the ship._

_"I- I don't know." he mumbled, "I- we-" he stammered, unable to put thoughts to words, overcome with a multitude of emotions; fear, sadness, anger- all at once._

_"We need to drop this boat and get out of here." he finished his sentence, the retire general sighing, before nodding in confirmation; as much as he didn't want to leave without finding what happened to Zuko, he had no other choice- too many lives were at stake._

_The crew quickly got themselves into the steamer, before they readied to detach; Jee looked at him instinctively, but didn't relent to put the winch that dropped them down into the water below, the steamer rocking as it splashed about in the water. As soon as the engine started up, they were already moving away with haste; Iroh held his hands by the edge of the boat, looking out to the water, trying to make sight of Zuko, who he thought might have been thrown overboard, but to no avail. He could make out some debris, but his nephew was no where to be seen. He clenched the edge of the boat, beginning to break down into a sob, unable to contain his emotions; he couldn't lose another son- he just couldn't. The spirits had been far too cruel to him, but he knew that he might have deserved it; he had participated wholeheartedly in the war for most his life, causing countless, faceless deaths. Taking Lu Ten was unfair, not on him, but on the boy himself; he hadn't done anything wrong- he was just like his nephew, trying to serve his country, to be a good prince. Cowering down on the boat, he pulled his arms close to his body, wishing he had a cup of tea to sooth his heart; nothing could help the pain he felt, the anguish that had been dealt down upon him so cruelly._

_"Why?" he mumbled, peering out to try and see if he could make sight of Zuko, to no avail; glancing up to the sky, he cursed the spirits, knowing that fate had gone the wrong way that night, "Why Zuko? He never deserved any of this."_

* * *

Leaning back on a crate, Jet patiently awaited the arrival of Lee, who he knew would be coming out soon enough to go buy food; he wasn't trying to stalk him- his intentions were a little less extreme than that, rather he wanted to make sure he would be safe. He felt a sense of obligation to help him out, more than he had anyone in a long time; they were close in age, both seemed to be skilled fighters and from what he heard, they might have similar pasts. The Freedom Fighter didn't want to say it was anything more than that; he found his aversion confusing- most people like Lee that met were eager to join him after he showed their prowess. They were a gang for outcasts like himself, people who all the others would look at with fear due to his harsh burn scar and intimidating demeanour. Soon enough, his waiting was broken by the tea-server walking out of his apartment, with a bag over his shoulder; it seemed that he was going shopping, as suspected. He had followed him and his uncle home, overhearing the older man ramble on about a new dish that he wanted to make; he had been waiting with Smellerbee and Longshot, but they left him after a while sitting around, the former calling him 'obsessive' and the latter giving him eyes of disappointment; Jet wanted his new life as much as they did, but they weren't going to get far without friends.

"Now, where are you going?" he curled his lips, feeling certain that he would be heading to the nearby market.

He thought of what he might say if he walked over to him there; he wanted to talk about the Rough Rhinos, to find out about what happened to Lee. Not just to learn about the boy, but gain a better understanding of the bastards who had killed his parents; he still wanted his revenge- no, he craved it. The Freedom Fighter would be willing to throw his whole game in Ba Sing Se away if he had an opportunity to destroy them; he wanted to make the Fire Nation pay, but after months travelling around, he realised there might be another way. The Earth Kingdom Army could be notified of the group, and maybe he could try and get some soldiers to join him; the Freedom Fighters were a skilled group of guerrillas, but they wouldn't match up well against the enemies he would face. He pushed that thought to the back of his mind as he walked on behind Lee, who was a few seconds ahead of him, casually walking along the road, his head darting about as he glanced down alleys and at other pedestrians; the Freedom Fighter assumed that he had the same thought in mind- that someone, or some people, might go after him after what had happened in that alley a few days prior. He continued to follow the rather observant tea-server, decreasing his pace to let Lee get a little further ahead, realising that he might notice him following behind; he realised that his outfit, no matter how dashing he thought it looked, was quite a dead give-away to his identity. Compared to the drab peasant attires he saw walking past him, Jet looked like he belonged in some kind of acting troupe; unlike an actor however, his attire had a functional use: to defend him from his enemies.

Suddenly he felt a hand grasp his shoulder, the Freedom Fighter turning around to see a tough looking fellow, who was well-built and tall, towering over the lanky teen, "Hey kid, I think I recognise you from somewhere." he noted with a suspicious tone.

"I don't know you." Jet looked at him with confusion, his right hand reaching down to his waist instinctively; he wasn't going to be the one getting beat up when he was the one with two swords.

"Let me remind you." he smirked at him deviously, before sending a fist right into his face, his downward dodge not enough to miss it, the punch glancing his forehead as he fell back, grunting in pain as he collided with the dusty street surface.

Looking up at the man who had just punched him, Jet could only help but say one thing in response, "Big mistake." before he somersaulted backward, drawing out his hook-swords in the same motion; he grit his teeth at his enemy, who drew out a dagger, ready to pounce.

As his opponent thrust his arm forward to stab him, the Freedom Fighter sidestepped his attack before slashing one of his swords through the ground below him, directing dust into the man's eyes, making him grunt and clench his face. With the momentary distraction, he swung his hooks under his opponent's ankles, flinging him off of his feet; as he stood above him, Jet shook his head with disappointment, thinking that might have gotten more of a fight.

"Well, that was just sad." he dismissed his opponent's efforts before kicking him in the shin, to ensure that he didn't get up any time soon to follow him.

Turning his head around, he tried to spot Lee, but to his surprise, he wasn't anywhere ahead of him; the Freedom Fighter paced forward, before he made out the familiar sound of the scarred-teen grunting in pain. So, he was getting beat up again, and Jet was betting that ruffian was just a distraction to get him away; the street-rats were smarter than he thought they might have been, and he had to give it to them. He turned around a corner and made sight of the tea-server getting his face kicked by a ragged-looking man who looked barely older than them both.

"Take that you little shit!" one of the ruffians shouted on, before Jet whistled to get their attention, hoping he could direct it away from Lee, who looked pretty bruised already from his beat-down.

Two ruffians raced his way, the Freedom Fighter quickly tripping one of them with before whacking the other in the face with one of the hooks of his sword; the latter sputtered out blood and yelped in pain, and was quickly knocked out by his opponent with a quick kick to the head. Although he could have tried to fatally strike his opponents, he knew that wouldn't do him any good, seeing how he was trying to find a new life in Ba Sing Se; the ruffian he had knocked down was quick to get back to his feet, and was able to tackle Jet to the ground before he could react. His opponent grasped at his messy brown hair, pulling at it while using his other hand to pummel him in the head; although he was dazed, his reflexes were enough for him to throw one of his swords at his opponent, stabbing him in the shoulder, barely missing his throat. The ragged man yelped in pain, scratching at his shoulder as blood began to leak out; the Freedom Fighter took the initiative and kicked his opponent in the chest, audibly hearing his opponent's ribs crack as he was flung back. He pulled himself back to his feet, turning around to spot his acquaintance still fighting one of the men, pushed up against the wall; before he could try and intervene, Lee's opponent tried to hammer a fist into his head, being blocked by a punch that Jet swore had sparks of light coming out it. He didn't have much time to react as the bloodied teen's fingers jabbed his opponent's jugular, breaking his windpipe before he threw a forceful punch into his head, flinging him down to the ground unconscious.

As Lee looked at him with confusion, he could only narrow his eyes and mumble, "What are you doing here?"

"Saving you, that's what." Jet confidently declared, readying his hook swords, "What did I tell you... these bastards won't give up."

"Th-thanks." he acknowledged in a pained voice, before both of them looked at the remaining men, who Lee had been able to beat off while the Freedom Fighter distracted some of the others; they looked very angry and ready to fight.

Before they could react, one of them whistled, sounding off someone, or something, it seemed, "We need to go." the bruised and bloodied tea-server told him as he grasped his shoulder, "They're going to beat the crap out of us."

"I can take them." Jet confidently declared, before he looked at the boy, who looked scared; but seemingly not of his opponents, but rather what he might to do them, looking down at his own hands covered in bruises and the blood of the men he had fought, "But you're right. Let's get out of here." he accepted his suggestion; he didn't want to get in any more trouble, and if he and Lee could at least get away without the Dai Li or anyone else catching on, they might be safe.

They ran down the alleyway, going as fast as Lee could run, which was limited by the slight limp he had received from being brutalised by his opponents; they were fast enough however, to outrun the already beaten ruffians. When they reached the main road, the man he had first fought was recovering, pointing to them with anger.

"Get 'em!" he demanded, the two of them racing on down another alleyway without another word; where they ended up wasn't important when there could be a small army of local crooks coming after them.

They sprinted down the alleyway, hearing footsteps pattering behind them; Jet didn't look back as they took a number of turns down the small gaps between buildings, hoping to lose them before they had a chance to corner them. He remembered where he, Longshot and Smellerbee were currently living- a small communal apartment a block or two to the east of them; he guessed that he and Lee could get there and wait out the ruffians. He didn't know if his friends would mind another person crammed into their apartment, but they had no choice in the matter; Lee was getting targeted for doing what was right, and Jet couldn't stand to see him suffer because of it. They turned a final corner, making sight of a larger road that crossed the Lower Ring; the two of them made it to the roadside, where Lee pointed out a group of city guards.

"We can't keep running. We should get the guards involved." he suggested, the Freedom Fighter shaking his head.

"These guys pay off everyone. If they know who's after you, they might just hand you over." he argued, Lee nodding.

"Of course, they do." he remarked in a tone that sounded unsurprised; his words gave inkling to something that had happened to him in the past.

Jet understood the corruptions that came with the high-society of the Earth Kingdom; he could have just as easily joined it when his family was killed, but he instead formed the Freedom Fighters, preferring his freedom to the despotism of the Army and the Dai Li. The duo raced across the road, the Freedom Fighter darting his eyes about to try and spot some other ruffians, but to his luck, he couldn't see anyone that seemed overtly suspicious. As they made their way down another street that ran perpendicular to the road, Jet pointed to the south-east of them.

"We can go to my apartment, it'll be safe there for us to wait out this storm." he suggested, the tea-server looking at him with suspicious eyes for a moment before nodding.

"Fine. You lead the way." he pointed his arm out, the Freedom Fighter heeding his words and racing down another alleyway, leading him along in the direction of his apartment.

As they moved down the street, his surroundings became more familiar, Jet able to remember the faces of beggars, and of street corner-side sellers; he felt a little more confident as they neared his new home, although associating it with the word home had no real meaning to him. The Freedom Fighter didn't have a home, and the closest thing he had to one he had been forced to abandon; the Avatar had ruined his plans, and although in hindsight he regretted his ideas, knowing that it would have been an ineffective way to deal down his justice upon the Fire Nation. The teenager running beside him gave him more hope in one conversation than anyone else had; the Rough Rhinos had killed his parents, destroyed his village, ruined his life. Now that he knew their identities, he was sure he would make them pay for their actions; Lee would be to thank for their demise, and from how he talked about them, it didn't sound like he had had a very nice experience with the group of degenerate murderers. Ahead of him, he made sight of a group of ruffians at the end of the street, realising they were blocking the path.

"Shit." he gritted his teeth, before deciding it would be best for them to go down one of the alleyways to their right to avoid fighting them, "Follow me!" he demanded of Lee, who tailed behind him without a word.

When they made their way about halfway down the alleyway, another few ruffians appeared at the other end; he considered they might be able to beat their way through, but considered an alternate path, glancing back to take note of a ladder. He smirked confidently, confirming his feeling that his climbing skills would come in handy one day. Before he could reach the ladder however, one of the beggars who had been sitting in the alleyway jumped up with a shiv and stabbed him right in the side- the wound was glancing, but it hurt like hell, forcing him back as he shouted in pain.

"Argh, fuck!" he exclaimed, before drawing his hook swords out, throwing one of the hooks down onto the beggar's shoulder before flinging him into the wall forcefully; feeling the blood leaking out of his abdominal wound, he gritted his teeth, Lee grasping his shoulder.

"Can you get up the ladder?" he asked him, the Freedom Fighter stretching his arms out to grasp one of the rungs, pulling himself up, despite the pain, before nodding to the tea-server.

"Y-yeah." he told him wincing in pain as he pulled himself up; he felt Lee grasp his arm for a moment, Jet glancing back down at him with confusion.

"Give me your swords." he asked of him, the Freedom Fighter's eyes widening; the bloodied and bruised guy didn't want to fight some more did he?

"What?" he mumbled, the stare of the scarred boy becoming more intense.

"I need to fight these guys off." he simply told him, before the Freedom Fighter relinquished his hook swords to him, before he pulled himself up the ladder further, hoping to get out of the way, lest the enemy use his compromised position against him.

After he reached the top of the ladder, he crouched down on the roof of the building, glancing down into the alleyway to watch Lee intently, the teenager standing tall and defiant as at least half a dozen ruffians surrounded him on both sides. Before they could even reach him, he sprung into action, slicing at the extremities of the ruffians as they tried to hit him; when one tried to hit him with a kick, the agile teen simply jumped on his knee, before whacking him in the head with his foot. Landing down on the ground once more, he dodged a thrust from a shiv, before hooking two arms from opposing sides of the alley, throwing two men right into each other. Before his opponents could react any further he spun the blades around so casually one might have thought he had trained for years with those specific weapons; he was unsure if that was the case, but his proficiency showed strong as he tripped and jabbed a number of his opponents. One larger, tough looking fellow raced at him, Lee ducking a punch coming his way before slashing at his opponents legs, forcing him to his knees; the Freedom Fighter looked on in awe as he jumped with one foot onto the man's back, using the hooks of the blades to grasp onto the ladder rungs- with one swift motion, he launched himself up the ladder, landing by Jet's side.

"How in the name-" he mumbled under his breath, utterly shocked by the skill he was witnessing; he hadn't used Jet's swords before, yet he was able to use them just as well as the Freedom Fighter himself did, "You're not just some refugee. Who are you?" he asked him with a voice of suspicion.

Lee tensed for a moment, before deciding to reveal himself, "I'm the Blue Spirit."

"You're the Blue Spirit. That doesn't make any sense... the Blue Spirit's a fugitive from the-" he spoke to himself, remembering what he had learnt in Full Moon Bay about the supposed mythic criminal who had been working there.

"The Earth Kingdom." he confirmed his suspicions, the Freedom Fighter's eyes widening with shock.

"You cooperated with people who murdered Earth Kingdom soldiers." he spoke the words he remembered from the people he had talked to there; after a moment he realised what had happened, connecting the dots from his story, "Those warrior women... they did it."

Lee glared at him, looking as if he might impale him in the chest with his own swords, "They did what they had to. They were protecting innocent refugees from men just like these guys." he pointed down to the ruffians, "That's why I'm here."

"You're lucky that I have no respect for the law or the Earth Kingdom Army as a whole." he curled his lips, "Otherwise I might have fought you over it."

"As any patriot would." Lee acknowledged, before he looked at him with a serious face, "So, are you going to show me your apartment?"

"Yeah, and- uh- I'd like it if you could show me how you do those moves."

* * *

Sitting in the darkness, Suki's hands were numb, bound in heavy metal chains that tied them around her back; she was tired, and time seemed to not make much sense to her anymore. She hadn't seen the sun in days, and the only thing of consequence that seemed to happen was her food and toilet breaks, but even with the latter, she was taken to another dark room to do her business thrice a day. She knew she shouldn't give up hope, knowing that she wasn't in an actual prison yet, something she might find to be marginally more entertaining that figuratively twiddling with her thumbs; not that she could actually do that, seeing that her hands were bound. She hadn't seen any of her fellow warriors, but she had heard them when she had been walked to her toilet breaks; they were all alive, and in relatively good health, it seemed. Amari's shouting sessions at the guards didn't surprise her in the slightest, and she considered to make the same action of resistance, but decided there wasn't much point doing so unless she had an actual opportunity to escape, which she hadn't found, as of yet. When the door opened up and let in a little light, she squinted, turning her head around to avoid getting her vision messed up by the sudden change; she heard a clicking noise, one that reminded her of a disappointed parent. Though she couldn't see her yet, she guessed correctly who was standing before her when her condescending voice addressed her.

"Have you adjusted yourself to your fate?" Azula asked her, the head warrior turning her head before spitting at her feet, not wanting anything to do with the girl who had captured her and her friends, even if she was Zuko's sister; she missed him more than anything, even the sun and blue sky which she had grown to long for, and seeing the callous girl's face only reminded her of him.

"My fate?" she asked in response, disbelieving that the Princess would think she would have already broken the Kyoshi Warrior's spirit; there was lot worse things that could be done to her before that happen.

"That you are a prisoner of the Fire Nation, and that you cannot escape." she answered the question simply, placing a hand on her waist, confidently leaning herself on the doorway, "I believe that I have waited long enough for my questions."

"Oh, interrogation... I've done that enough times." Suki acknowledged nonchalantly, the Princess's face looking rather surprised, "What, how did you expect I found out who your brother actually was?"

"I'm not surprised." she denied what both of them were thinking, crossing her arms, "Zuzu has a type." she suggested, the head warrior raising a brow; mentioning and reaffirming her knowledge of her relationship with Zuko didn't make that much sense, but she assumed that Azula's questions would have to do with him.

"I know what you want to know." she glared her down, "I'm not telling you shit." she bluntly told her, taking a page from Amari's book; the best way to unnerve your enemy was unwavering confidence.

"Oh." she raised her hand to mouth to feign surprise, "I didn't realise you were going to be so uncooperative." she noted, the sarcastic energy emanating from her like an aura, "I was expecting you to beg me to return you to my brother."

"I'm not going to help you." she affirmed her stance, despite her physical inability to prove her words, they held strong nonetheless; the Princess however, seemed to ignore her and knelt down in front of her, grasping her by the chin to force her to look into her golden eyes.

"Well, you see, there's no choice in the matter." she smirked at her deviously, "Where did Zuzu and Uncle go?"

"I don't know." she simply told her, the Princess rolling her eyes.

"Okay, I think I'll go better with yes or no questions." she decided, raising her left hand and filling it with flames, "Did they go to Ba Sing Se?" she asked her, Suki refusing to answer, the Princess tightening her grasp on her chin, "Were they heading for Ba Sing Se?"

She forced out a response, realising she was getting uncomfortably close to getting her face burnt, "I don't know."

The Princess pulled herself back to her feet, with a disappointed look on her face, "You don't get it, do you?"

"Get what?" she stalled Azula with a question.

She didn't seem to care for her words, obviously knowing her question was rhetorical, "I am trying to help my brother. To return him to his rightful place." she declared, "Don't you want to help him? Don't you care for his happiness?" she asked her accusingly, the Kyoshi Warrior flaring her teeth, offended by her words.

"Yes! That's why I'm not letting you get to him!" she declared, the Princess rolling her eyes at her words, dismissive of her own power in the situation, which Suki knew herself to be lacking.

"Oh, I'll get to him whether you tell me or not. I understand my brother enough to know I shouldn't torture you for information, because he would kill me if he ever found out." she acknowledged, before glancing her in the eyes to stress her point, "Literally."

Her skin shivered, realising the implications of the Princess's words, "W-wait... you don't mean-" she mumbled, her tone fearful, breaking her strong exterior with one little presumption.

"Yes, I'll torture your friends until they give me everything I need to know about Zuko. And for safe measure, I'll do it for a while without asking any questions, just to loosen them up." she smirked with ruthless intent in her eyes; Suki realised she had no idea who she was dealing with- if she made the wrong decision, or said the wrong thing, the Kyoshi Warriors could end up mutilated, or worse.

She remained silent for a few moments, before she dropped her head down with shame, realising she had to cooperate, knowing what would happen otherwise, "I'll tell you what you want to know."

Azula smirked before she decided to sit down in front of her, bringing herself down to her level physically, while her icy glare assured her that she was not making herself any less determined to find out what she desired, "Where are they?"

"You guessed correctly." she acknowledged, "I don't know where exactly in the city, because I had nothing to do with them getting in."

"How did two Fire Nation royals intend to enter the last bastion of the Earth Kingdom undetected?" she asked another question, which again, Suki didn't know the exact answer for.

"Some friends of Iroh... I don't know who exactly. Neither of them explained it very well." she admitted, the Princess sighing, placing a palm over her face.

"Another treasonous activity to add to my list." she sighed, the Kyoshi Warrior refusing to laugh; if she knew of all the treason Zuko had gotten up to, she mightn't be as confident to go find him.

"Well then, why did you split apart?" she asked her, the Kyoshi Warrior looking down with shame, realising it was her fault with what happened.

"I did some things. Things that the Earth Kingdom Army didn't appreciate." she hinted at the truth without revealing it; it seemed to be enough for Azula, who crossed her arms and smirked.

"Ah, so nobody likes you. That's good- you'd have no where to run." she simply concluded, before she leaned in closer, "What is his plan?"

"Zuko's plan?" she asked, the Princess sighing, before she pulled out the ceremonial dagger, showing her the sheathed weapon.

"You know what this dagger represents to my brother, do you not?" she asked her, the Kyoshi Warrior nodding.

"That's why I didn't want to take it." she acknowledged, to which the Princess pulled out the blade, reading out its words.

"Never give up without a fight- and I know my brother. He doesn't give up easily." she suggested, Suki's eyes darting about, trying to think of something to tell her; she knew she couldn't tell her what the banished prince's true intentions were, but Azula's keen eyes were getting the better of her, "So- he has a plan, what is it?" he deducted from simply looking into her eyes.

She had no idea if her lies would pass the Princess by, but she decided to tell her something that was a half-truth, "He wanted to go to Ba Sing Se to protect Iroh. So he could have a normal life." she explained, the Princess raising a brow.

"But what of Zuzu himself. He's not just going sit around living like a refugee for the rest of his life." she dismissed her words, the warrior's eyes looking down as she tried to think of something to excuse him with.

"He wants... to redeem himself." she explained, her eyes going up to look in the Princess's, "And from the sounds of it- your plan is his plan." she acknowledged, not knowing if that was the truth; she knew anything that might appease the Princess was better than bluntly telling her how he wanted to change the Fire Nation for the better in doing so, something she guessed Azula might not support.

"That's better news than I was expecting." she acknowledged, "But my brother had to want to return home sooner or later." before she stood up, turning her heels and walking to the door of her cell, "I'll be sure to tell him that you were less of a bad influence on him than I thought." she mockingly farewelled her, before closing the metal door shut, leaving her in the darkness once more.

"Oh..." she mumbled, realising that she was all alone, and that her short interrogation had already ended.

Despite Suki not wanting to tell his sister where he was, she knew that she would find him eventually, accelerating the inevitable; Azula was going to try and return him to the side of their father, but even if she was 'successful', she knew that the Prince of the Fire Nation would not bend his will easily. Thinking back to the Princess's words of mockery, she realised how wrong she was, for better or for worse; she curled her lips, leaning herself back up against the wall as she confidently accepted her fate, for what ever might come next.

"You're in for a surprise, future sister-in-law."

* * *

"It sounds like you've been through a lot, Lee."

Zuko tried to hold up a smile as he sat on the roof of Jet's apartment, Smellerbee applying some herbal paste to both of their injuries; he wanted to keep up appearances the confident Freedom Fighter, trying to keep up his identity as Lee. He was not a refugee, and he most certainly hadn't had his village destroyed by the Rough Rhinos, but he understood enough about Jet's past to have some genuine sympathy with him. The fact he hadn't really explained what he and the Freedom Fighters had done to force them to flee their former home in a forest concerned him; it must have been something pretty serious that they wouldn't reveal it to someone as notorious as him, the Blue Spirit.

"I guess I have." he tried to downplay his past, not wanting to have to get into any more details, real or fake, with the boy who seemed so intent to recruit him to his side; after his second beating in the span of a week, he realised that he probably ought to at least consider his offer.

"So, are you feeling any better now? I didn't think you'd be able to fight back there... but you proved me wrong." Jet asked him with a tone of curiosity, obviously still shocked by his beatdown he gave those ruffians; of course, he had never seen Zuko fight with weapons before, so he ought to be surprised.

"I can fight with swords. My hand-to-hand skills... aren't as good as they should be." he acknowledged, the other Freedom Fighter looking at Jet with interest.

"So were you being serious when you said Lee used your hook swords like he had already mastered 'em?" she asked her friend, who nodded along confidently.

"Yeah. Lee's probably... well you're probably the best fighter I've come across, Best that isn't a bender, of course." he acknowledged, the Prince nodding along, lying about the fact that he most certainly was a bender, even if he was very good at fighting; he eyed Jet, noting the specific way he had phrased his last sentence, considering perhaps that he might have grown suspicious of him.

"I did a lot of training to become this good." he admitted, "Hard work pays off." he gave him a simple but effective proverb, the two Freedom Fighters nodding along awkwardly.

"So... what are you going to do next?" he asked him, the fugitive prince looking at the inquisitive Freedom Fighter for a moment.

"Uh- well, I plan to leave this city eventually. I feel like I'm two missteps away from getting beaten to death by a bunch of street-criminals." he acknowledged, before sighing, "But I'll probably be here for a while. My uncle and I, we need to get our life together." he admitted honestly without giving the specifics; he certainly intended to leave Ba Sing Se, hopefully with a plan in mind to get his sister on his side and to fix his nation, sooner rather than later.

The Prince's eyes opened, remembering what he had actually been intending to do before he nearly got the life beat out of him, "Ah, shit. I was meant to go buy my uncle some fresh ingredients for dinner. He's probably getting worried about me." he realised, looking out to the dark sky, twilight nearly ending, leaving the city to be lit by innumerable paper lanterns.

"We can take you to the market just down the street. I'm sure they'll still be open." Smellerbee suggested, "It's the least we can do... seeing that you saved Jet's arse."

"Uh- yeah, of course." Jet confirmed his friend's idea, "We can be your... muscle, of sorts." he acknowledged their potential role.

"Thanks." he accepted their offer with a smile, before glancing about, "Where's Longshot?" he asked, to which she pointed to the ladder that they climbed up to reach the roof.

"He's staying on street-level making sure none of those bastards try anything. We can trust him to keep 'em away." she assured him, before getting up, "I think that medicine will help with the bruises. We can't do much else but... well, avoid fighting." she stated the obvious, Zuko nodding along with agreement.

"That's certain." he smirked, before walking over to the ladder that led down to their apartments balcony; he slid down, not even bothering to climb on the rungs when the drop was so meagre, before entering the apartment building.

It was a shared apartment of sorts, where a mismatched group of refugees lived, around half a dozen in total, split into three rooms and sharing a cleaning area and a kitchen; he realised how lucky he and uncle had been with their jobs, able to afford an apartment all to themselves. He assumed that Jet and his friends weren't exactly rolling in money, and from the looks of them, they only had one outfit of clothing each, that being whatever ragtag armour they made for themselves when they were fighting against the Fire Nation; the banished prince couldn't help but feel a little pity for them, guessing how much freedom they must have had before they came to Ba Sing Se, confining themselves to live in such crowded conditions, in the worst squalor there probably was in the entire world. The Fire Nation had pollution and poverty because of it's population and urbanisation, but it was nothing like the Lower Ring of Ba Sing Se, at least that he had heard of. He walked on down out of the apartment itself, not trying to annoy any of the other tenants as he walked on down the stairs, realising how much his feet and legs ached from the beating he had received; he felt relieved that he wasn't one of the ruffians lying on ground bleeding after being stabbed by Jet's hook swords. The blades themselves were light and versatile, something that reminded him of his katanas; the blades he had received from the Kyoshi Warriors were good, but nothing beat his old broadswords in comparison- perfectly weighted for the Blue Spirit's antics. When he reached the bottom of the staircase, he greeted Longshot with a nod, the teen boy tilting his head out toward the street, Zuko nodding.

"Yeah, we're going to market. I still need to get Uncle and I our dinner, after all that." he acknowledged, the seemingly mute archer making a light chuckle before nodding, his face returning to its usually stoic form quickly after.

When Jet and Smellerbee reached the bottom of the stairs, all four of them walked out into the middle of the street, glancing about intently, trying to make sure there was no one waiting to follow; the Prince himself didn't find anyone suspicious, but he doubted his judgement was very good- all the refugees, beggars and ruffians faces blended together for him. The leader of the Freedom Fighters made a finger signal which he understood well enough, before they continued down the street eastward, toward where he assumed the market was; they were relatively quick on their feet, and without any real fear in his mind, the time passed quickly before he found himself standing in front of a number of stalls that had wires of hanging lanterns crossing between them. The lively streets calmed him a little, knowing that no one would try and beat him up when there was a decent crowd of shoppers about.

"Here we are." Jet acknowledged, raising a hand to place on Zuko's shoulder, "Did you need to get something in specific?"

"I don't know honestly. Uncle said he wanted something new- like gourmet noodles or something... I'm unsure." he fumbled his words, unsure how to explain the conversation he had had with Iroh; in hindsight he was unsure if he could explain most conversations he had with him.

"I think I know some guy that sells noodles." Smellerbee voiced her opinion, before waving a hand, indicating the Prince to follow, "This way."

He followed behind her, Jet and Longshot keeping behind but walking more casually; he was unsure if they were going to buy anything or if they were just going out of their way to help him. Zuko didn't think he deserved all the help he was getting, but he was certainly glad for it; walking up to a stall that she had pointed to he glanced about the bags of noodles, rice, and grain that were being sold.

"Hello! Are you here to get fulfil your fibrous desires?" the stall-seller asked him, making the Prince raise a brow with confusion.

"Uh- I guess." he mumbled before looking down to look a various bags, each with different names stamped on them; eventually he found something that he thought fitting.

"Jasmine rice. This has Uncle written all over it." he acknowledged with a chuckle, realising its name correlated with the tea that they most regularly enjoyed; not that he wanted to judge something just by its name, but he was sure that it would be something different for them to enjoy, "I'll buy a small bag of this." he asked the seller, who smiled at him intently.

"Brilliant. That'll be... uh- three copper." he told him, the Prince nodding, picking out a few copper coins from his pocket; he didn't bring much money with him, as he only expected to be buying that night's dinner.

Handing the seller his coins, he exchanged it for a bag of rice that was small enough for him to easily carry in one hand, despite the bruising and aches he felt in his limbs; he turned around quickly and saw Jet standing in front of him, with a box of dumplings in his hand.

"Oh, sorry. Yeah, me and Longshot were a little hungry." he admitted, Smellerbee looking at him with slight annoyance.

"Hey, I wanted to get some food too." she grumbled, Longshot stepping up closer to her and placing a hand on her shoulder, "Oh, you'll share... thanks." she accepted his wordless offer with a clearly appreciative smile; as the two of them ate the dumplings, the leader of the Freedom Fighters turned to him with a smirk.

"Get something that you wanted?" he eyed the bag in his hand, Zuko looking up to face him.

"Uh, yeah, I just need to get some vegetables. Uncle might have a fit if we just eat plain-old rice again." he chuckled, the Freedom Fighter indicating to a stall that sold fresh vegetables that likely came from the nearby Agrarian Zone.

The two of them walked up to the stall and once again, the Prince glanced about the stalls, unsure what he would be buying; he could see a variety of different vegetables, but the ones that seemed most noticeable to him were the long green spring unions and the brightly purple eggplants.

Without a second thought, he decided he might as well try those, "How much for an eggplant and two spring unions?" he asked, the seller scratching at his long scraggly beard.

"Hmmm- I can say... ten- no- twelve copper." he suggested, the Prince eyeing him for a moment, unsure if he was trying to haggle him.

"Yeah, sure." he accepted, pulling out the last of his coins and handing him twelve copper pieces; he only had a few more coins left, but he didn't expect he would need to use them.

He turned around to face Jet, who looked rather humoured for no apparent reason, "What's wrong?" he asked him, the Freedom Fighter smirking.

"Oh, nothings wrong. Just turn your head to the left." he suggested, Zuko obliging and looking to his left, noticing a teenage girl who seemingly had been looking at him.

"She's been eyeing you ever since you left the rice stall." he told the Prince with a whisper before patting him on the shoulder; his cheeks flushed a bright red, thinking that he was being watched by people, especially teenage girls- Jet noticing made it all the more worse.

He covered his face with one hand, in embarrassment, covering it with his spring onions, "Spirits save me."


	36. Zuko, Zuzu and Lee

_"No! Shut up! I will find the Avatar, and you will shut up for good!"_

_Azula's eyes widened at what she was hearing hiding behind a corner, listening to her brother shout to himself, as their uncle stood outside the room, his face mirroring her own; he couldn't see her, or at least she assumed he couldn't, and he raced into Zuko's room within the palace infirmary at once._

_"Prince Zuko? What's wrong, who are you shouting at?" Iroh asked her brother; she found it to be ironic that she herself could be the one he was shouting at, seeing that she was always one for mocking her brother for his failings._

_"No one." her brother stressed, to her relief, "I need- I need to get out of here."_

_She agreed with her brother's sentiment; he most certainly needed to leave the palace, and try and find the Avatar. It was the only way things could return to normal after what had happened- after what her father had done._

_"N-nephew, you're still very injured, I'm un-" she heard her uncle try to coax him, cut off by Zuko's harsh but determined voice._

_"No. I will find the Avatar, and I will redeem my honour." he declared, Azula not expecting any less of her brother, "I will not let this be the end of me."_

_She knew her brother was right to feel the way he did; he lived by principles, and one of those was more respectable than some of the others: that he would never give up, not when he had the chance to keep on going._

_"Nephew, you- you're in shock, you need to calm down." Iroh pleaded to him, the Princess rolling her eyes, knowing nothing he said would change her brother's mind._

_"No. You need to listen: I am Prince Zuko, and I will not let anyone stop me from doing what I need to do." he declared confidently, so much that she might have forgot that their father burnt his face so savagely just a few hours prior, "Not even you, Uncle."_

_Her lips curled into a smile; with one loss comes another's victory, she once her a proverb say, and that fit her situation perfectly. Her uncle had lost their game, and he was going to face the consequences of Zuko's failure; her brother would go and hunt the Avatar, and all the same, he would become the Prince she wanted him to be. One defined by strength, determination and his utter will-power, not some ideal of patrimony or loyalty; her father had done that for her already- Zuko would never trust blindly again, and because of it, he had the opportunity to become his own man. To think that the Fire Lord had created a potential rival when attempting to remove a child from the line of succession; her father was quick-minded, but he had little thought for the future past his conquest of the Earth Kingdom, which would inevitably close with Sozin's Comet, which would return only in a few years time. The future where he would either be rejoined by a loyal son, or destroyed by him; there was no two ways about it, and Azula knew better than anyone the temperaments of both of them._

_"Oh, brother, thank you for not disappointing me." she whispered into the wall before walking down the hallway, ignoring whatever else he and Iroh had to talk about; that didn't concern her, and she was readying herself for her brother's eventual departure._

_The Princess never desired the eventuality that came, but she would have to make to do with it; with no brother to bully and mould into her perfect Fire Lord, she would have to occupy herself with other hobbies, and the Princess had a few decent ideas. The war was eventually going to come to a close, but until then, she ought to dedicate her time to solving that very problem; the war would not end itself, it would require a strike, and that strike would likely need to take down Ba Sing Se itself. Her uncle could not take down the impenetrable city, and she knew that it would be a challenge for even someone as gifted in the ways of war as her to do so. So many strategy books and scrolls would not ignore the plain facts of the matter; the Earth Kingdom was big, full of people who hated the Fire Nation, and Ba Sing Se was a microcosm of that entire situation jammed into a city behind walls taller the the rim of the caldera. But more than conquering a city, the Fire Nation needed more of a technical advantage; their tanks, trains and ships weren't going to help them conquer a city of millions of people, so they would need another method of brute force. She knew Sozin's Comet would give them unlimited firebending power, but that would only wreak destruction on the city they sought to assail; its strategic value was lost as soon as it no longer existed._

_Her mind was focused on the conquest of a city, but her heart was not; she knew she was lying to herself if she was to simply say conquering Ba Sing Se would fix all her problems, because they wouldn't. Her brother was being banished, and the end of the war would not solve that; she needed to figure out how to allow her brother to return. There was some possible paths she was unwilling to take, purely out of the threat that they might bring to her own life if they were to come about; Azula could overthrow the Fire Nation government and rescind her brother's banishment, at the threat of getting herself killed and the nation into a civil war. She knew that Zuko's return was more important than her conquest of Ba Sing Se, but it was not more important than the war as a whole. The Fire Nation needed its victory, and she needed her brother alongside her to proclaim it; she could have it no other way, and as such she would find a way to achieve it._

_"I swear, if anyone gets in the way of his quest. They will face the wrath of a thousand suns. No one is going to stop me, just like no one is going to stop the Fire Nation on our march of progress."_

* * *

Toph was pretty bored. That was about all she could feel following Sokka around the Lower Ring; they were putting up posters while Aang was flying around, and she decided to go with the Water Tribe teen while Katara handed out leaflets to strangers. She wasn't overly amiable to dealing with a bunch of random people in the Lower Ring, so she made the choice of putting up posting, even if she wasn't actually able to do it herself, as she was blind. Paper and reading didn't really make much sense to her, and putting up posters made less; she went alone with it anyway, knowing that she didn't really have anything better to do.

"How long are we planning to put up posters for?" she asked the Water Tribe boy, who simply turned back to face her.

"Uh, well, I guess until we run out of posters to put up." he acknowledged, making her sigh with annoyance, realising they had a long day ahead of them; she could sense how much paper he was holding, and that did not give her any good signs.

"Great." she sarcastically acknowledged, before beginning to walk off as he finished putting a poster up, quickly following behind her, as if he didn't want to get himself lost in the labyrinth that was the Lower Ring.

They were walking through alleyways and streets, criss-crossing the Lower Ring at a snails pace; she kept tugging on Sokka's shoulder to make sure they walked as fast as they could, and made sure they avoided markets. She had learnt a lesson about him when they came to Ba Sing Se, and that was that he loved shopping; it was so much of a threat that if she even had the slightest inkling from her seismic sense that they were getting close to a lot of people, she would direct him down another street, just to be sure they didn't get caught up in the market. She did feel a little hungry, but Toph was uncertain if the food around the area was going to be any good; Sokka probably wouldn't care, and she would probably try to act like she didn't, if only to keep up her tough visage. She was still an Earth Kingdom noblewoman, no matter how dirty she was, and crude she acted; a little fine cuisine was still to her liking, and she, for one, didn't want to eat some kind of barely edible rice stew.

As they were walking down a street, suddenly her friend just came to an utter halt, and his heart-rate increased; she raised a brow at him, "Why'd you stop?"

"Um..." Sokka mumbled, before leaning down to whisper, "I think I recognise that guy." he told her, to which she raised a brow with slight confusion.

"Uh, who? I can't exactly see who you're talking about." she chided him, the Water Tribe boy audibly cringing.

"Oh, uh- sorry. I mean the guy right in front of us, just down the street." he clarified, Toph using her seismic sense to look at the person Sokka was talking about; she could feel his heartbeat as well, noticing that it was fast as well.

"Uh- I didn't expect to see you here." the person acknowledged the boy next to her.

"Hi, Zuko. Long time no see." he waved at the boy, making her narrow a brow.

"Wait- Zuko? I feel like I've heard that name before." she raised a chin to her finger, trying to recall exactly where he remembered that name from, "Oh! You mean your... oh." she smirked, realising what she could say.

"Toph, don't you dare." Sokka turned to her, his tone indicative of his foresight.

"Hey, Zuko. How well do you know Sokka?" she asked him, the boy approaching them somewhat cautiously.

"I helped him and- uh- the Avatar, on Kyoshi Island against the Fire Nation." he explained himself, to which she smirked, feeling that he was telling the truth.

"Oh, so you'd call him your friend?" she asked, Zuko remaining silent for a moment.

"I guess. We haven't seen each other in a while."

"Yeah, that's right." the Water Tribe boy agreeing, the nervousness in his voice and heartbeat noticeable.

"So, uh- I don't know how to break this to you..." she began Sokka trying to cover her mouth his his hand, Toph simply using her earthbending to move him to the right, of her, "But Sokka here has the hots for your sister."

She could feel his heartbeat intensify, before she heard a mumbled gasp of confusion, "Ahhh... excuse me?" he asked, sounding almost concerned in his question.

"It's a lie!" the Water Tribe boy declared, the earthbender raising a hand.

"No, that was a lie." she pointed to him, "I'm a human lie-detector, you can trust me." she told Zuko, who cleared his throat before stepping closer.

"Sokka, I'd like to know how and why you even would think like that." he simply requested, Toph turning to face the seemingly fearful Water Tribe boy.

"Yeah, that's right. You better fess up. Big brother needs to know the truth." she grinned at Sokka, who was up against the wall.

"I- uh- she saved us from Zhao." he explained himself, the Prince nodding along, already knowing that was something she would've done, "And then she saved us at when the Northern Water Tribe was being attacked." he explained himself, Zuko's stepping closer, his heartbeat rising.

"Wait, the Northern Water Tribe? Why was she there?" he asked, the Water Tribesman clearing his throat.

"To stop Zhao... I think." he explained, the Prince's heartbeat getting even more intense.

"Wait- did she do it?" he asked him, the Water Tribe warrior feeling rather tense; she could swear that he was having some kind of internal panic-attack.

"Do it?" he asked, "N-no- I- I did it."

"You... you did it?!" Zuko exclaimed with shock, Toph utterly confused by what they were talking about.

"Do what?" she asked, stepping between them.

"He killed Zhao." the Prince mumbled, "You actually did it?"

"Y-yeah, because... he killed someone I cared about." he looked down, sounding sad, more sad than she had ever heard him be.

"That's better than the reason I had to kill him... thanks." Zuko simply told him, the young earthbender glancing his way with utter confusion.

"I'm really confused. What's the deal with killing this Zhao guy?"

"How about we have this conversation over a cup of tea? I'm sure I'm going to need one after hearing whatever he has to say about his attraction to my sister." Zuko suggested, the two of them glancing at him with interest.

"Oh boy, that's better than putting up posters." she acknowledged, the Water Tribe boy sighing.

"I really don't want to talk about this. Toph, this is really... I don't even know." he grumbled at her.

His intent stare her way indicating that he was thinking about what she had done weeks earlier; she had unashamedly kissed his cheek in thanks for saving him from the serpent when they crossed the Serpent's Pass, and she wouldn't take that back- not that she wanted to discuss that, but she understood why Sokka might feel a bit confused about this. But she wasn't thinking about that, she was just thinking about the brilliant reactions she'd be getting out the two of them when the Water Tribe boy was forced to explain his any kind of feeling he had toward the other boy's sister.

* * *

Zuko was feeling intensely uncomfortable as he stood over the stove at his apartment, making Sokka and his friend, Toph, some tea; their presence was not the disconcerting aspect, but rather the conversation they had been having. It turned out that even though she was the Princess of the Fire Nation and clearly an enemy of the Avatar, the Water Tribe boy had the gall to have a crush on her, which according to the little earthbending girl, who refuted herself to be able to sense heartbeats, might be a mutual feeling; he seriously doubted his sister would like someone like him, but took a moment to consider that someone like Suki liked him, the ball of angst he was. He wanted to remove that confusing thought from his mind, knowing considering the possibility of that coupling only disgusted him; he didn't know if it was because of some underlying mistrust of Sokka, or perhaps the opposite, that he couldn't ever see his sister in a relationship. Nonetheless, he wanted to move his thoughts away from the idea of romance and crushes, and when Toph decided to compliment his tea-making skills, he decided that was the best time to go on a tangent.

"Ah, yes- I've refined my skills over the past few months. If you'd tasted the tea I made on Kyoshi Island, you might've belched." he acknowledged, before realising he was bragging a little too much, "Well, Uncle makes even better tea than I do." he explained, the two of them nodding, "We're working at a tea-shop at the moment..." before he remembered the conversation he had just had before he met up with the pair, "We're, uh- about to get our own tea-shop." he noted, their eyes widening.

"Your own tea-shop! Wow, I'd like to see what you guys make there... I mean, not literally." Toph acknowledged, Sokka snickering at her 'blind-joke', to which she simply punched the Water Tribe boy's shoulder.

"Hey, what can I say, you have a good sense of humour." he acknowledged, before scowling, obviously recalling something the girl had said to him, "Other than making non-bending jokes. Those aren't funny."

"It's not my fault you can't hold yourself in a fight." she raised her hands defensively, a smug grin appearing on her face; the Prince relented to laugh as the other boy's face turned red with offense.

"Hey, Sokka isn't that bad at fighting. I trained him myself." he noted, the earthbending girl raising a brow at him with disbelief.

"Oh, really. So I assume you're not the greatest fighter in the Fire Nation?" she asked him, the Prince blushing with embarrassment, before clenching his fists; she said something like what his sister would tell him, or more regularly, his inner voice chiding him for being an inadequate firebender.

"I'm a good fighter..." he mumbled, not sounding overly confident, "Well, I did get beat up last week, so I can't blame you for thinking that."

Sokka looked at him with surprise, "Wait, seriously? Somebody beat you up? Does Team Avatar need to go teach some goons a lesson?" he cracked his knuckles, making him snicker.

"Is that seriously the name you chose for your group?" he asked, Toph looking at her friend with slight annoyance.

"Yeah, he wouldn't shut up about choosing a name for us once he heard about the 'Terra Team'." she complained, before raising a finger to her chin, "That was the last time we fought your sister, actually." she noted, making him dart his eyes about as he lifted his cup of tea to his lips, trying to avoid what might come next.

"Katara kept making fun of me about it, but hey, Ty Lee looked at me first." he defend himself pre-emptively, making the Prince face-palm.

"Oh spirits. Not Ty Lee... but then again, when isn't it Ty Lee?" he mumbled to himself, thinking about how many times he had heard directly or indirectly about her numerous romances and crushes, mostly in the form of complaints from his sister who was frustrated that her friend wouldn't ever shut up about them.

"You know her too? You can't blame me. She's pretty." he defended himself, the Prince sighing before begrudgingly nodding; the acrobat was pretty, he'd admit that much, even if his eyes were focused on another of Azula's friends when he was still a kid.

Zuko momentarily glanced to Toph, who despite being blind, seemed to be averting her eyes from Sokka when he was talking about his romantic interests, despite the fact she had been the one bringing it up; he didn't want to assume, but he made a fair guess that she had a crush on him too- who didn't these days?

"Sounds like you're a little too popular." he took note of the situation, before thinking if that had been the case for him, "I'd hate all the attention, honestly." the Prince cringing at the thought of all the Kyoshi Warriors swooning after him; the one thing that would be worse than Amari trying to kill him would be her trying to kiss him.

The Water Tribe boy raised a brow at him, "Really? You don't-" he began, before the Prince raised a hand.

"No, I have a girlfriend." he clarified, "Suki and I have been a thing... for a while now." he noted, the Water Tribesman's eyes looking down for a moment, almost in shame before he glanced back up and smiled.

"Well, that's good for you two... but where is she, and the other Kyoshi Warriors?" he asked the Prince, who simply shrugged his shoulders.

"I have no idea really. We split up before the Outer Wall, because... they're fugitives."

"How'd that happen?" Toph asked, sounding genuinely intrigued as to how they'd ended up in that situation.

He remained silent for a moment, unsure if he wanted to talk about it, but decided to anyway, "She- she killed an Earth Kingdom soldier who was trying to beat me to death."

"That sounds intense. So, they're running from the law." she concluded, the Prince shaking his head.

"Not really, more so avoiding Ba Sing Se itself. This is the last bastion of the Earth Kingdom after all." he acknowledged, the pair nodding along with understanding.

At that moment the door to the apartment opened behind him, the Prince turning around to see that his uncle had returned, "Nephew, I didn't kn- wait, Sokka, what are you doing here?" he asked, obviously confused by the presence of the Avatar's friends.

"Oh, hi Iroh." the Water Tribe waved with a smile, the Prince turning around glancing at them both with utter confusion.

"Wait- how'd you two meet?" he asked, the retired general clearing his throat.

"Remember my associates, nephew? I got help from them in Omashu, and I met Sokka and his friends there." he explained himself, his eyes widening with shock.

"U-Uncle... you've known- this entire time." he mumbled, "You met the Avatar. You knew, even- even before I gave up on my quest."

"I didn't mean to keep that from you, nephew." he defended himself, his guests growing uneasy by Zuko's tone.

"Uncle. We need to have a talk- a private talk." he stressed, before glancing at Sokka and Toph, realising he couldn't have that conversation with them around, "Sorry to kick you two out. It was nice to meet you, Toph."

"Uh, no worries. We have to get back to finding Appa anyway." the Water Tribe boy assured him, trying to keep the mood in the room calm.

"It was nice meeting you too..." she smirked, punching him in the arm before raising a finger to her chin, "I don't have a nickname for you yet. But it's coming, just you wait."

As they walked to the door of the apartment, his uncle turned around and addressed the pair, "Oh, we're getting our own tea-shop in the Upper Ring- it's going to be called the Jasmine Dragon! You should come around!" he suggested to them, the earthbending girl grinning and pointing to Zuko himself.

"His tea was good. I know I won't be disappointed." she admitted before she turned her heels, closing the door behind her.

"Uncle." he addressed the man before him, knowing that the talk they were going to have would be heavy on both of them, "I know you think you have my best interests in heart, but why didn't you tell me about this. I was hunting the Avatar for three years straight, and I met him myself on Kyoshi Island."

"I know, nephew, but I didn't want to bring up those negative emotions again, especially with you having your budding relationship with Suki." he explained his reasoning, the Prince sighing, knowing Iroh was being completely reasonable.

"That's fair." he nodded, before sitting himself down by the table, "But I still things I need to do, Uncle." he explained himself, "And as much as I don't want to have to deal with the Avatar and his friends again, with my sister involved, I'm sure I'll have to."

"She will want the Avatar sent in chains to your father. Is that what you want nephew?" he asked Zuko, who clenched a fist before glancing at his uncle, knowing honesty was the best answer.

"No. Not when he's the only one who could defeat father." he admitted, before turning his eyes to the window; ironically enough, that was a lie- his uncle before him could probably beat his father in a one-on-one fight, and his sister, she was capable of beating him if given the chance.

"That's true." his uncle agreed, the Prince knowing his uncle knew the truth as well, even if neither of them would openly admit it.

"My sister is the key here, and because we have no idea what she's doing, we're at a disadvantage." Zuko simply concluded, "But I shouldn't be worrying about that... you're finally getting your tea-shop." he smiled to him, trying to feel happy for his uncle even if he was only feeling further conflicted about his own actions.

The fugitive prince had chosen the path his uncle wanted him to, but even then, he still knew that he couldn't do everything Iroh wanted of him; not when he had to consider Suki, Azula and even the Avatar as a factor- he wanted to find a win-win situation, but he didn't know who would end up doing the winning in the end. He was certain of one thing and one thing only, in the end of it all, he would make sure that peace came, and the Fire Nation could change for the better; he would stop at nothing to make sure that happened, and unlike his uncle, he wasn't above doing some seriously underhanded things to achieve it. His time as the Blue Spirit had taught him much, and Suki's training even more; it was far smarter to use your opponent's strengths against them, and he knew Azula's greatest strength- that being that she had the utter determination to believe that she was right, no matter what. If he proved her right, but was able to show her a better path, maybe there was a chance that they could work together, and achieve the dream he longed for.

* * *

"Get up, prisoner."

The leader of the Kyoshi Warriors, who was sitting by the wall furthest from the door, raised her head, dazed and confused by the voice she heard; two hands grasped her shoulders and pulled her to her feet, nearly collapsing under her ankles as she struggled to stand. After days on end in her cell with little ability to exercise, she found it unreasonable to suggest that she could actually walk properly, let alone stand up. She groaned with frustration, trying to find her footing while the guards held her up, rough hands on her arms and shoulders.

"We need to change her bindings, switch her around." one of the guards told the others, who turned her around and pushed her head against the cold metal wall.

"No sudden moves." one of the men holding her against the wall warned, before she suddenly felt the weight that hand been holding her hands down disappear; she wanted to jump with glee, but could only groan with slight positivity.

"Oh..." she mumbled, before curling her lips, realising the opportunity she had been afforded; when the guards turned her around once more, they forced her hands to go in front of her, and readied a new set of handcuffs that were linked to a chain.

The moment that the guard came in to place the new cuffs on her hand, she quickly thrust her right foot up, hitting his shin before she jabbed another in the stomach; as the two guards reeled back she punched the head guard right in the jaw, his attempt at conjuring a defensive shield of flames an utter failure, being flung back into the cell-door. Before she could try to escape, she was jabbed in the gut with a firebending powered punch; the guard she had first hit didn't look very happy, and as she reeled back, he quickly put the cuffs onto her hands.

"That was bloody close. Don't try anything like that again unless you want your face roasted." he gritted his teeth before grabbing her by the shoulder, pulling her from the cell.

She hear her fellow warriors cheering her on, Nakata's voice specifically sounding out, "Yeah, you show 'em, Suki!"

"Kick their teeth in!" Amari demanded, the warrior thumping on the door of her cell with the kick of her feet.

Although the warriors cheered her, she was unable to do much with her hands bound and arms restrained by two guards on both sides; the warrior squinted as she made sight of some light, the doors of the prison being opened, allowing her to see outside at last. When Suki finally made sight of the sun, she was almost blinded; so much brightness all at once, was overwhelming, and she cowered down to try and avoid it, unable to cover her eyes with her hands bound. The ground was dusty and light as well, not much better to look at, and the rough handling of the guards forced her to step forward; she tried to keep her eyes relatively closed as they adjusted to the light, and after being led along she found herself in front of the one person she seriously didn't want to see again. Princess Azula had her hands on her hips, standing next to what the Kyoshi Warrior made out to be a carriage of sort, roofed by a cage of metal bars.

"Ah, finally, they got you out of that cell." she acknowledged, implying that her struggling to even let the guards grab hold of her was unusual.

"Wh-what do you want?" she gritted her teeth, bluntly addressing the matter at hand; she was the Princess's prisoner, and from the looks of it, she was being moved.

"You're being moved, obviously. As the leader of a military group that is opposed to the Fire Nation, you have been qualified to be sent to the Fire Nation's most secure prison- the Boiling Rock." she clarified, "And it's not what anyone wants. We follow rules here in the Fire Nation."

The head warrior rolled her eyes, before she turned her head around, realising that she would be getting separated from her fellow warriors, "W-wait. My warriors. I- no!" she shouted, trying to turn back toward the prison they had been held in, coincidentally enough at the compound she had raided about three weeks prior; she had been held there for however long, the time blurring somewhat, but she guessed it to be about a week.

As Azula's guards held her back from trying to return to the prison, she sighed and began to chide her, "I'm not feeling sympathy for you in the slightest. This is what happens to the enemies of the Fire Nation, especially important ones like yourself." the Princess declared with an aura of absolute certainty.

"You- you won't get away with this." Suki gritted her teeth, the guards pulling her along toward the carriage.

"Oh, I already have." she told her, "Your preferential treatment ends today." she told her with a steely glare, making her scoff as she was dragged over to the open gate of the carriage.

"This was preferential treatment? I didn't see the sun for an entire week!" she shouted at her with anger, the Princess shrugging nonchalantly, as if it weren't an issue at all.

"And give you and your warriors the possibility of escaping? Not a chance." she crossed her arms, still sure in her tone.

"You'll regret this." she flared her teeth, "He'll make you regret this."

"You're not wrong... But that's the price I'm willing to pay to fix this mess." she accepted her threats, making Suki feel even more powerless; the Princess wasn't going to give up, not now, when she had the Kyoshi Warriors, not when she had taken Ba Sing Se- not until Zuko was firmly under her thumb.

The head warrior was pushed up a step into the prison-cart, and sat herself down, feeling relieved that she at very least could sit without her arms around her back; the Princess walked up to the side of the cart, looking at her with a mocking smile.

"You know, I must thank you. Without your capture, I wouldn't have found a way into Ba Sing Se." she suggested, the Kyoshi Warrior's eyes narrowing as she turned around, confused by her suggestion.

"How can you get into Ba Sing Se?" she asked her with confusion, Azula playing her nails as she chuckled.

"Well, I first planned to get their by air, using the power of Fire Nation engineering, but I realised you and your warriors provide me with a far easier route." she grinned with devious intent, "Who would they suspect less than the allies of the Avatar himself?"

Suki looked at her for a moment, considering her attempts at making her feel powerless, "Well, good luck at that." she told her nonchalantly, much to the Princess's surprise.

"I'm sorry, what?" she asked, utterly dumbfounded by the warrior's tone.

"You heard me. Good luck. You're going to need it." she glared at her before turning around, waiting for the carriage to begin moving.

Azula looked at her for a moment before making a hand signal, obviously indicating for the driver to start moving the prison-cart; her eyes glanced about her expressions for a moment, before she narrowed her eyes at her, seemingly trying to read her, "Are you really that self-assured? For a prisoner with no hope of escape you seem quite confident in yourself."

"Oh, you misunderstand." she smirked, "I am confident in Zuko. He's not the same little boy you probably knew."

"As I once told a man before I had your Water Tribe friends kill him: your confidence is misplaced."

* * *

Frozen to a wall by Katara was not exactly where Jet was intending to end up that morning; he was more-so expecting to find her, Sokka and Aang, who were supposedly looking for their sky-bison, who had gone missing. The Freedom Fighter knew that he ought to do something productive, and paying back the people that he had betrayed in the past felt like the right thing; he didn't however, anticipate the waterbending girl's extreme reaction, and noted that her bending had gotten a lot better since she last froze him, being unable to budge from the ice.

"I'm here to help you find Appa! I thought I could help, okay?!" he explained himself, Aang and Katara both looking at him with slight suspicion, though the Avatar seemed far less concerned by his presence; he opened his fist and dropped the poster down from his hand, hoping that they would accept his reasoning.

The Avatar knelt down in front of him and grabbed up the poster, "Katara, we have to give him a chance." he told her, the Water Tribe girl scowling as Jet tried to explain himself.

"I swear, I've changed! I came to Ba Sing Se to get a new life. Smellerbee and Longshot are all I've got, and we're trying to... be better. Better than we were." he acknowledged, hoping they'd understand that he'd put what happened at Gaipan behind him.

"You're lying!" Katara declared, the Freedom Fighter sighing, dropping his head down.

"I-I'm not. Seriously, I'm not here to cause any trouble..." he admitted, Aang looking to his friend.

"C'mon, can you just let him loose. You're a master waterbender, I'm pretty sure Jet couldn't hurt you even if he tried." he acknowledged with a smile, before turning to face him, "Uh, no offense."

He shrugged his shoulders as much as he could given being stuck to a wall, "Eh, none taken."

"That doesn't mean he hasn't hurt me already, or hurt orthers... ergh, where's Sokka when I need him." she grumbled, looking around the street before turning back to face the young Avatar, "Where'd those two go, anyway?"

"I have no idea." he admitted, before looking to Momo, who was flying around above them, "Hey, Momo! Have you seen Toph or Sokka?"

The little flying-lemur chittered before landing down on the Avatar's shoulder, indicating that he didn't really know what he was saying, or that he didn't know where they were; neither reason really helped in the end, and Jet cleared his throat, trying to get their attention once more.

Katara glared at him for a moment before rolling her eyes, "Fine, I'll let you go, if you help us track down our friends. They've obviously got themselves lost." she sighed, before smirking, "Or maybe they did it on purpose..." she suggested, her lips curling as she eyed Aang, who looked at her with slight distaste.

"You don't mean... urgh, Sokka." he sighed, the Freedom Fighter having no idea what they were talking about.

"I'll help you find 'em... just uh, let me loose." he accepted her offer, the waterbender making one swift motion with her hand, making him fall down to the ground, covered in water, but finally free from his icy bounds, "Thanks" he looked up to Katara, who simply turned her heels, while the young airbender offered him a hand, which he accepted.

"Sorry about Katara, but you did try to destroy an entire village." he suggested, the Freedom Fighter sighing.

"Yeah, I know." he accepted the responsibility; she had every right to be angry, but he was genuinely trying to help them; if he could at the very least make amends, that would make him feel that he wasn't as bad as his enemies- he wanted to be the good guy, after all.

He followed on behind the waterbending girl and glanced at the two of them, "So where did you last see them?" he asked, the Avatar scratching his cheek in thought.

"Huh, just down this street. We split up to cover more ground- for the posters." he indicated to the bundle of paper in his hand, the Freedom Fighter nodding in comprehension.

Walking down the street, they made their way to the spot Aang had indicated to, finding no Sokka or Toph in sight, not that he knew what this Toph person looked like, but he assumed she'd be with the Water Tribe boy.

"Okay, so they're putting up posters, so they'll do it in a line, one-by-one, won't they?" he suggested, the airbender nodding with a confident smile.

"Follow the posters!" Aang declared, raising his fist before beginning to race along the street, eyeing posters and following the trail left by his friends; Jet and Katara were forced hurry on behind, but they found out very quickly they were no match for an determined airbender.

Turning around the corner, they saw him, and to his surprise, he was standing already with Sokka and who he presumed to be Toph, a short dark-haired Earth Kingdom girl wearing the most unusual outfit; he knew he couldn't judge, self-consciously noting the absurdity of his own attire, as he was a suave guerilla no more, simply a refugee with a refined skill-set that mightn't ever find him a job. The Water Tribe teen caught sight of him and looked averse, before glancing back toward Aang and Toph, who were chatting away about something; he didn't know what and decided to approach, with Katara seemingly having the same idea.

"So, you got tea, but then you got kicked out?" the Avatar asked his friends.

"It was pretty good tea- and I have standards when it comes to this kind of stuff, trust me." he heard the short girl pipe up confidently; she already sounded more boisterous than any other member of their little group.

"Yeah, but I don't blame them. Iroh obviously didn't tell him anything about Omashu." he explained, Jet still having really no idea who or what they were talking about, "Anyway, I see that you've recruited a... maybe reformed Jet to our cause. That's just wonderful." he sarcastically acknowledged his presence.

"Not just me. I have Smellerbee and Longshot... I know some people. Maybe people that could help you." he suggested, the group eyeing him with slight suspicion, except Toph, who really had no idea who he was.

"Um, sorry, what's the deal with this guy?" she asked, the Water Tribe teen clearing his throat.

"It's a long story... but to put it bluntly, Team Avatar doesn't associate with people who try to commit mass murder."

"Sorry, what?" she looked rather concerned, before eyeing him with the same suspicious glance, "You said try... well, that's better than, doing it." she acknowledged his technical innocence, making him feeling slightly less guilty for what he did, even if it didn't change the fact he was going to destroy Gaipan.

"So, you're saying you have people who can help us?" Aang asked him, the Freedom Fighter nodding.

"Yes, and some methods of resourcing information. A little easier than putting up a bunch of posters."

"What's easier than informing everyone, exactly?" Sokka's eyes narrowed at him.

"Finding those in the know, and- uh- well, beating it out of them." he clarified, Katara turning to glare at him.

"You said you were trying to change, and now you're suggesting we go beat up some strangers?"

"Not just anybody. The criminals- their syndicates are just one step away from the Dai Li, who I'm assuming you don't want to mess with."

Toph cracked her knuckles confidently, "Don't want to is an overstatement. I'm more than willing to beat them up if it'd help us get that giant flying fur-ball back."

"Hey, Appa's not a giant fur-ball!" the Avatar snarled at his friend, who was backed up by Sokka.

"He is a giant flying fur-ball, but he's our giant flying fur-ball." he stressed, placing a hand on his shoulder, making the boy smile a little.

"Hmph- so who are these people you know- more people like you?" Katara asked him with a rather suspicious tone.

"Kinda. I met this guy, and it turns our he's way cooler than I first thought." he admitted, their eyes turning to him.

"Who?" they all asked in concert, the Freedom Fighter smirking, knowing that they'd be amazed with who he'd made friends with.

"The Blue Spirit." he smirked, the group looking at him somewhat puzzled.

"The Blue what?" Aang asked, "Like an actual spirit?"

The Water Tribe teen scratched, "No. He's a notorious fugitive. Well, at least according to the Fire Nation. I saw a wanted poster for him back at the Misty Palms Oasis."

"Yeah, and he's the best fighter I've ever seen- well, the best non-bender." Jet stressed, "If I can get him to help you, you'll have no problem dealing with any issues like the Dai Li."

"You know, you seem to make friends really easy, Jet." the Water Tribe boy looked at him suspiciously, "But anyone whose got a bounty as big as him must be a big deal."

"You can meet him right now, actually. He'd be on shift at Pao's Family Tea House." he offered, the group looking at him before breaking down laughing, even Katara joined in.

"Wait, you're telling me a notorious criminal is working at a tea-shop?" Toph asked him with a sense of disbelief.

"Yeah, he's pretty good at it too." he acknowledged, Sokka's eyes widening with shock, as if he'd had a sudden realisation; the group noticed this quickly enough, and all eyes turned to him.

"What's wrong?" Aang asked him, before the Water Tribe teen glanced around, the short girl looking at him with confusion.

"Why are you panicking, Sokka?" she asked, genuine concern in her voice.

"No reason. No reason at all."


	37. Lake Laogai

_"Nephew, you should get out more often."_

_Prince Zuko raised a brow, sitting on the deck of their ship, begrudgingly drinking a cup of tea that his uncle had forced upon him between firebending lessons; he didn't exactly understand what Iroh was implying by what he said, but he assumed it had to be the fact his entire life was focused on his quest to find the Avatar and pretty much nothing else._

_"I'm not going to get out more often while I haven't found the Avatar." he grit his teeth, the retired general sighing._

_"You know you're always holed up in this ship, training, or reading, or plotting a course." he acknowledged, "Maybe we should go out the next time the crew have their break. It's only in a few days. We could go to some taverns, you could talk to some ladies. It'd all be fun." his uncle suggested, the Prince grimacing at his words._

_"No. I'm not going to out to a tavern with you, let alone trying to pick up women." he sighed, "What do you think I am, some kind of attention-craving womaniser?" he asked him with a steely glance, his uncle taking the hint and sipping from his tea cup._

_"What I'm trying to say, is that you don't seem to have many friends, Zuko." he acknowledged, "The crew are a fair bit older than yourself, and the only person I see you regularly talking to is... well- me."_

_"Yeah, and what of it? You train me to become a better firebender, teach me all your silly proverbs and then make stupid suggestions like this. I don't need to go out, Uncle. I'm fine."_

_"Would you at least consider going to find some nice dinner? I'm sure there's some good delicacies about."_

_He face-palmed, remembering his uncle's taste for odd food, "Not again. If we're going to eat something, it better be normal."_

_"That settles it." Iroh grinned, "We'll go get some dinner, and maybe you'll feel a little more open to my suggestions." he opened his arms, the Prince rolling his eyes._

_"In your dreams." he dismissed his ideas, "We're going to get that dinner, and nothing else. I have more important things to do."_

_"You're not going to be able to find the Avatar when the crew has vacated the ship. I'm sure you can take a few nights off." he concluded, the situation providing Zuko with a reasonable excuse to relax; as much as he didn't want to do that, his uncle made a decent point, and he knew there was no point arguing with him about it- he would drag him off whether he agreed or not._

_"Whatever. Can we get back to training?" he asked, the retired general raising a brow at him._

_"Well, you better finish your tea first. You must relax your breathing if you want to improve your firebending." he told him, the Prince rolling his eyes at advice he'd expect to be directed at someone who had barely begun training themselves as a firebender._

_"Yeah, yeah, I know. Firebending basics. I'm not six, Uncle." he accepted his advice, still frustrated his uncle kept reminding him about it; he tried to keep his breathing under control, but when his bending was his main way of directing out his frustrations, it was a little hard to keep his breathing focused and steady._

_He drunk down the last of his tea, not wanting to admit that it did indeed taste quite nice, and was good at calming both his body and mind; breathing in and out, he rose to his feet and turned around immediately, taking a simple firebending stance, before letting loose a stream of flames. Although it wasn't overly intense, he was sure to keep it steady as he breathed in and out at a slow, barely noticeable pace; eventually the stream died out as he lost breath, unable to bend a stream of flames indefinitely, but by the time that was the case, his uncle had already returned to his feet and watched him hold the flames steady for a good minute._

_"That was impressive nephew. To funnel your chi that efficiently shows that you've improved." he acknowledged, "But breathing shouldn't just have it's limits tested; you need to be able to bend effectively without needing much breath." he raised a finger, before pointing to the bow of the ship, "I want you to lap the deck, twenty times." he directed him, the Prince raising a brow at him._

_"What good is that?" he asked, the retired general chuckling._

_"I could spar you, but this will work all the same; when you're done, I want you to do the oldest test in the book." he suggested, Zuko sighing, knowing exactly what he was talking about._

_"The leaf test?" he asked, remembering the basic firebending test, where a novice bender would have to hold embers steady on a leaf, without burning it completely for as long as possible._

_"Exactly. You do not just require good breath control, but precise breath control."_

_"Of course." he acknowledged, "But I don't see how tiring me out this much will help me against the Avatar." he suggested, Iroh wiggling his finger at him._

_"No, no, no. It most certainly will. How can you expect to win against the master of the elements if you end up tired and out of breath- your bending must be as precise as possible. It's like an arrow aimed in the wind; you have to consider all the variables, and be ready to strike accurately." he explained to his nephew, before pointing his finger and sending out a minuscule bolt of flames, that jabbed him square in the forehead, between the brows._

_"Ow!" he jolted from the surprise attack, rubbing his forehead as he considered his uncle's idea._

_"Do you see, nephew?" he asked him, the Prince sighing and nodding in confirmation, accepting his uncle's proposal._

_"I'll do it, even if I don't see you running up and down the deck."_

* * *

Zuko rolled his eyes, thinking that he'd already had enough to deal with, after Sokka and Toph met him in the middle of his walk back home; he was proven wrong when just as he and his uncle began to pack, Jet barged into the room, explaining how he met the Avatar and his friends, much to his surprise. He hoped and was relieved to find out that he didn't know of his true identity, at least not yet; he blabbered on for a bit, explaining how Aang and his ragtag group were looking for Appa, something that he already knew, but played his part well, pretending he had no idea that the Freedom Fighter knew the Avatar. That information in and of itself confused him, but he assumed that whatever forced him to come to Ba Sing Se, it had something to do with that group; the Avatar, of course, loved to make a mess of things, proven by exactly what had happened on Kyoshi Island a few days after he arrived. Then he got to the most stupendous part of his exposition, where the Freedom Fighter requested that he help him find out where the sky-bison was, if he was in the city at all.

"Sorry, what?" he asked, his uncle looking similarly concerned.

"Well, you could do it, couldn't you?" he asked, the Prince sighing, realising that if there was anyone who could give anyone a surprise beat-down to get some intelligence, it was the Blue Spirit.

"I guess. But why should I... it's not like I know them." he dismissed his offer, knowing that he would seem to suspicious by jumping right on board to help them find Appa, even if he knew that he probably owed it to them after they saved Kyoshi Island.

"I owe them it. I need to help them, and I can't do it without your help. Your the Blue Spirit." he acknowledged, making the Prince smirk; he wasn't as vain as his sister, but he did appreciate the deference when it came his way.

"Nephew. I don't think should get involved- you shouldn't stir up trouble." Iroh suggested, trying to mediate the offer, but Zuko shook his head.

"No, Uncle. I owe this to Jet. He's helped me more than once." he acknowledged, knowing that it was the honourable thing to do; he wasn't intending to help the Avatar out of the goodness of his heart, although he knew that earning some respect from them wouldn't hurt, considering what was to come with his plans- his poorly formulated and vague plans, but plans nonetheless.

"Thank you. How long will it take?" he asked the Prince, who glanced back at his uncle, who looked rather averse.

"Tonight. I'll do it alone- the mask makes sure I won't get tracked." he explained, "I'll tell you as soon as I have the information you need." he assured him, the Freedom Fighter looking relieved.

"Smellerbee, Longshot and I will go ask around, but I think I can trust... your methods, more than ours." he smiled at him, the glint in his eyes giving appreciation of Zuko's underhanded skills.

"Y-yeah." he curtly accepted his compliment of sorts, before indicating to the door, "You should probably be on your way. We are moving apartments." he stressed, the Freedom Fighter nodding.

"Oh, yes. Of course." he shook his head, as if he felt sorry for his unexpected intrusion, although Zuko doubted he actually was, "I'll see you soon then." he waved, before exiting the room and closing the door behind him.

The Prince turned to face his uncle, before wiping the sweat from his forehead, "Oh spirits, when he came in here, I thought he might have found out our identities or something." he admitted, Iroh nodding along with agreement.

"As did I, but luckily, he was just trying to recruit you to help the Avatar, whose friends didn't even ask you to themselves." he raised his hand to scratch on his long beard.

"Well, they know our situation better than Jet does. They know what's at stake for our lives here."

"They do. But this boy, he's only trouble for us." he sighed, the banished prince making a similar face of distaste.

"He is, but he's saved me twice. I can't just forget that. He and his friends, they're... well, they're decent people." he tried to tell him something positive, but was unable to shake the fear that Jet and his Freedom Fighters were far worse people than what he would like to believe them to be.

"I think so too." Iroh agreed, "They're here looking for a second chance, and it just seems that second chance involves the Avatar."

"Second chances... yeah." he mumbled, thinking back to his fall from the ship, when he nearly drowned and narrowly avoided being the late night snack of the Unagi, "I'm not wasting my own second chance, Uncle. I want to make this world better, better than the one I found myself in when I nearly died a banished and disgraced prince."

"That's good, nephew. You want to create your own destiny." he acknowledged with a proud smile, Zuko chuckling off his uncle's claim.

"Well, I guess you could say it like that. I'd prefer to believe destiny isn't really pulling the strings here." he admitted, the retired general raising a brow at him.

His gravelly voice sounded curious as he pulled at his beard, "Hmmm- and why would you say that, nephew?"

"Because if destiny's real, I don't know what it'll do to me. Or the people I care about." his eyes widened, his mind dashing over various things- his sister, his mother, the fate of the Fire Nation, and probably most pressingly, what was happening with Suki, "After you've got your tea-shop all set up, I want to go and find Suki. I can't keep sitting around in Ba Sing Se hoping that Azula won't pop out at the next alleyway."

"I understand, nephew. You'd probably be a little safer away from this city anyway, especially with what you're about to get involved in." he noted, his eyes glancing out to the window, "So, should we continue packing. I'd like to get to this fancy new apartment as soon as possible."

"I would too. A new bed sounds nice." he smiled, thinking about all the relatively poor sleeping arrangements he had been enduring for the months since he was shipwrecked.

"Indeed. The luxuries of Upper Ring are something that can only compare to that of our old home." his uncle suggested, the Prince looking poignantly at his bed, thinking about what and where he truly considered his home to be.

"Yeah, home."

* * *

Hearing a thump on the roof above him, Jet opened his eyes, before raising his head from the bed, glancing at Smellerbee and Longshot, who were both asleep already; he wiped his eyes before sitting up on his bed, glancing toward the balcony doors, which were slightly ajar at that moment. He tensed up for a moment, hearing the creaking of footsteps above him before another thump, right behind the doors; he knew he would be overreacting if it was Lee, but he quickly reached under his bed to grab one of his hook swords, having a feeling that there was a possibility it was someone less friendly. To his relief, the doors were opened, and before him stood a lanky man in all black, except for a the unusual looking theatre mask that covered his face.

"Lee." he gasped, the boy taking the mask from his face, wiping his fringe from in front of his face.

"I found out what you wanted." he simply told him, Jet standing up from his bed.

"Who did you get the information from?" he asked him, to which he simply snickered.

"Well those ruffians didn't give me much... but the Dai Li. Oh, when an agent thought he was going to be decapitated, he loved to talk." he smirked, the Freedom Fighter mirroring his expression.

"So, do they have Appa?" he asked Lee, who curtly nodded.

"Supposedly a facility under Lake Laogai; it's in the Agricultural Zone, south-east of here." he explained himself concisely, "You'd probably want to avoid going there. I would trust the Avatar and his friends to handle that themselves."

"No, I'm going. I owe it to them." he disagreed, the darkly clothed boy shaking his head before stepping closer, into the apartment.

"You don't want to do that. I handled the Dai Li with stealth. If you tried to fight them head on, it would not end well." he told him, the Freedom Fighter raising a brow.

"Well, I can be stealthy." he told him in a purposeful whisper, "I just need to be two steps ahead of them." he curled his lips, Lee sighing, before he turned his heels and walked back to the balcony.

"You can't out-smart an entire organisation. They'll be onto you. Onto me even." he warned him, turning back to him with a serious glare, "I don't know if it was right for me to do this in the first place" voicing his discontent quite honestly.

"Trust me, I won't say a word if they do capture me." he assured him, the boy shaking his head with disappointment.

"No one can make that promise." he chided him with a tone that indicated he had had a similar experience in the past, "Good luck." he told him curtly before climbing onto the railing of the balcony before launching himself back up onto the roof.

Jet sat back down on the bed, looking about as he considered what the Blue Spirit had told him; the threat he faced by helping Aang and his friends was serious enough that he was going to advise him against it, despite the fact he hadn't necessarily been the most warm toward him. He guessed that he understood what was going on, perhaps more so than he had originally thought; the tea-server and his disguised alter-ego were one in the same, but it wasn't much of a stretch to say there was another layer of disguises. He had no idea who Lee was, or where he actually came from; all he knew is that he came to Ba Sing Se to protect his uncle, and that he had been a fugitive before he came there. The boy was mysterious, and he was enticed to find out more about him, if only to satiate his desire to figure out exactly how someone became 'the Blue Spirit' in the first place.

"Urgh- was that Lee?" he heard Smellerbee grumble, raising her head from her bed.

"Y-yeah. He gave me the location that Appa's been held." he told her, whose eyes widened with surprise.

"Wait, really? He found out, just like that?" she asked with a tone of disbelief.

"He went straight down the rabbit hole... to the Dai Li." he curled his lips, her eyes lighting up with fear.

"The Dai Li. Jet, you know how dangerous they are." she warned him, making him sigh.

"Yeah, he said the same thing. But we have to help Aang, Katara and Sokka. We owe it to them." he stressed, the Freedom Fighter sighing, before making a curt nod.

"I guess you're right. We need to be careful though." she suggested, making him chuckle tilting his head at her.

"When am I ever not careful. Everything I do is calculated." he assured her, earning a roll of the eyes, obviously not believing his words for one second.

"That's a lie if I've ever heard one."

* * *

"Wake up, prisoner."

Opening her eyes, Suki blinked for a few moments, noticing that it was dark all around her, except for the flames in the hand of the Fire Nation soldier who stood in front of her; between him and her were metal bars, which opened a few moments later, his hands reaching forward to grab her. She grit her teeth, inching back, not wanting to be manhandled another time; the soldier sighed before grabbing her by the leg, dragging her out of the cage, forcing her to land on her feet, lest she fall over onto the ground below. The soldier grabbed her shackles and tied a chain to them, pulling her along; the Kyoshi Warrior tried for a moment to resist, but decided to play along, realising she might have an opportunity to escape. She was led along through the darkness, taking note of a few structures around her, but little light and not much sound; having no idea where she was concerned her, only knowing that she was being sent to some kind of Fire Nation prison.

She could make out some light in the distance a pair of Fire Nation guards, who looked rather calm, but immediately tensed as the soldier dragged her closer, "Hey, here's the prisoner you've been waiting for."

"Ah, the Princess's one?" one of the guards asked, the soldier nodding in confirmation, glancing at Suki for a moment.

"Exactly." he told them, before handing them the chain, "Take her to the ship. You're leaving tomorrow?"

"Yep- this was a refuel before we head to our next station in the Mo Ce Sea." one of the guards acknowledged, the soldier looking at the Kyoshi Warrior once more.

"Be careful with this one. I was warned she's pretty dangerous." he advised before turning his heels, returning back toward the cart.

"Hmph- I didn't know the Earth Kingdom had women soldiers." one of the guards mumbled, making her eye him with a steely glare, not wanting to deal with another assumptive man who thought the Kyoshi Warriors were out of place fighting for their country.

"Let's just be quick about this. I want to go to bed." the other guard told him, pulling the chain along to lead her as they moved onward.

As they walked along, the Kyoshi Warrior tried to figure out where they were going; she knew they were going to a ship, and she was already tired enough. Being marched in the dead of night through a Fire Nation port didn't exactly help her get the sleep she needed; a lack of sunlight and exercise for a week had left her sore and weak, but she was determined that if the opportunity presented itself, she would break free. Suddenly, the ground beneath her changed, looking down to note it was metal- she realised that she must have already arrived at the plank to enter the ship. Being shunted along a metal plank during the dead of night, Suki tried to get a look of where she was; she could only make out one notable thing about her surroundings, that being the sound of water crashing against rocks. She had been in a prison cart for a whole day, being transported all the way from the Fire Nation compound toward the sea, she assumed, given where she found herself. The guards that were accompanying her weren't the Princess's Royal Guards, and she was sure that if she really wanted to, she could choke them out with her shackles and the keys to unlock them, but she had nowhere to go; the Kyoshi Warrior couldn't escape from a place she knew nothing about, let alone the fact that she had no idea where her fellow warriors would be.

"Keep moving, prisoner." the guard behind her demanded shoving her along as she reached what she guessed to be the deck of a ship; glancing about, she noticed the ship to be completely made of darkly painted steel, red windows lighting the deck a faint blood-like hue, "Down the stairs. You're not stargazing tonight." the guard chided her, grabbing her by the shoulder harshly and turning her around.

She was led to a staircase in the middle of the ship, before being led down into a warm and better lit portion of the vessel; the guards directed her all the way down to the back of the boat, where a number of relatively large metal bar cells sat, with a bed and toilet for her to use. She was relieved to have found better living conditions that what she had had under the Princess's jurisdiction, but being separated from her friends and completely alone meant she had no motivation to escape; not when the price of failure was too high, she couldn't risk it, knowing that she would be smarter to wait until an opportunity presented itself. As Suki was led into the cell and her metal shackles released, she was left alone, the guards immediately leaving the prison hold without a word. She sat herself down on the bed, grasping and rubbing at her sore and blistered hands, before wiping her face; she had little energy and barely any motivation to do anything other than lie down, now given the supreme gift of actual bedding.

She lay herself down properly, trying to find a comfortable position on the sub-par bed; it was better than the floor, but not much better, just an old mattress that exuded an odd smell that she didn't want to question. The leader of the Kyoshi Warriors wasn't afraid of what fate was to befall her, but rather concerned for what might happen to her fellow warriors, or Zuko, for she had no idea what Azula would do when she found him; although she knew the complications the Princess might face in trying to get into Ba Sing Se by disguising themselves as fugitives of the Earth Kingdom, she believed the girl would stop at nothing to retrieve her brother. Suki just hoped for his sake that she wasn't as cruel as she was to her to him; whatever love or care they held for each other, it must of been quite deep, because most of the things he had heard about either sibling from the other was quite disparaging of each other's character. She knew that he would come for her, however much his sister put him through to perhaps persuade him otherwise; Zuko was the most stubborn and determined person she knew, and that's why she knew he wouldn't give in.

* * *

"This has to be it. He told me it was at Lake Laogai."

Toph scratched her chin, sensing about the area with her feet, trying to make sure it wasn't some kind of ploy; she was confirmed in her suspicions when she sensed a tunnel under the lake in front of them, making her smirk.

"This is Lake Laogai, right here on the map." Sokka indicated to a piece of paper, before she cleared her throat, just waiting for the suspense to build up.

"This is it. There's a tunnel right there by the shore." she told the group, who all looked out to the water; the irony of her being blind and being able to see what they were looking for amused her to no end.

She walked up to the shoreline and checked for the perimeter of the tunnel with her seismic sense; with one motion of her hand, she raised a long rock slab out of the lake, revealing the covered entrance, which she removed the covering from with another motion of her hand. The group followed her along to look down the tunnel, after which she placed her hands on her hips, confident that she deserved some respect for her quick work of the supposedly secret hideout.

"Thank you, Toph. You're the greatest earthbender ever." she prodded the group to respond, Sokka raising his hand to his chin, obviously considering her words.

"As arrogant as it sounds, you aren't wrong." he conceded, Aang piping along with his usual giddy tone.

"Yeah, only the best can be the Avatar's master." he acknowledged, Katara only crossing her arms.

"How come Toph gets her skills appreciated?" she asked him, the two boys glancing back her way.

"You're good too!" Aang assured her, while her brother patted her on the shoulder.

"Yeah, you can heal us when we get beat up by the army of Dai Li agents we're about to face." he smirked, earning a splash of lake water to his face; they couldn't hold back their laughter, and the boy became embarrassed, growling at his sister while their new allies looked on with confusion.

She assumed they were confused, but they sounded quite determined when Jet walked up, "Now, are we going to go down there and find Appa?"

"Definitely." the Avatar beamed, sliding down the ladder so fast she thought he might fall down the hole.

She followed on down, struggling to climb down the wooden ladder, let alone sense the overall structure of the facility as they went deeper under the lake, the dampness in the air becoming more noticeable as they reached the base of the ladder.

"This place is creepy." Sokka mumbled under his breath, "Toph, can you feel anything that looks like a cell for something as big as Appa?" he asked her, the earthbender shaking her head.

"Not yet. This place is big, but I can feel people up ahead. We should stay alert." she stressed.

The group remained quiet as they walked along through the tunnels, the earthbender making sure to keep her senses about her; she felt about, but couldn't see anyone moving toward them, which was a good sign. When they made it to an intersection in their path, Jet walked to the corner of the wall, checking down to see if there was any Dai Li agents in that direction.

She cleared her throat, "You don't need to check. There's nobody in the hallway- but I can sense a lot of people in a room down there."

Sokka tensed up, "Uh, so are we going that way?" making her chuckle, knowing that the truth would make him squirm.

"I can sense a big room, at the end of this hallway- I can't see Appa yet, but maybe he's in there." she suggested, Aang nodding before leading the group down the hallway.

"Let's go. Everyone stay quiet." he hushed everyone, before they began to slowly tip-toe down the hallway.

As they walked past the room she had been talking about, Toph made sight of Dai Li agent standing in front of a bunch of women who all stood in file.

"I'm Joo Dee. Welcome to Ba Sing Se." the agent told the women, who all responded with the exact same thing in turn, "We're so lucky to have our walls to create order." he furthers, the women repeating him again.

"Creepy." she mumbled under her breath, before the group continued on toward the large room that she had indicated to, "Here it is." he raised a hand to the door, thrusting it open.

The group walked through the doorway, and she felt around with her seismic sense, "Wait. He's definitely not here. But somebody is."

Before she had a chance to turn back, the doors closed, trapping their entire group in the room; she could tell that their were a number of Dai Li agents on the roof above them, and from the gasping she heard around her, she guessed her friends could see them.

"Now that's something different." Sokka exclaimed, before a familiar voice made himself known.

"You have made yourself enemies of the state. Take them into custody." Long Feng exposed himself, before some Dai Li agents fell down from the roof, surrounding them.

Immediately, she sensed two agents sending rock gloves her way, but she was able to use her own bending to dissolve them, before shooting up them up into the air with rock pillar. Another two agents try to grab her with their chains, using rock walls to defend herself before throwing each of the slabs at her opponents. She raised a pillar, and the agents followed her up, creating their own pillars to rise toward the roof of the cavern; another two climbed up the walls and sent out pillars to strike her, the quick-minded earthbender dodging their attacks with ease. But suddenly, a stone glove grasping her back and throwing her back toward the ground; before she hit the ground, she was released from her bounds by Jet, who used his swords to break the rock casing. She sensed around, trying to make out their target, Long Feng, but was unable to distinguish him among the mass of agents; she used her earthbending to strike away more agents, and tried to ensnare them with pillars of stone, to little effect as they were earthbenders themselves. As she finally got the upper hand against her opponents, she heard Aang call out sharply, "Long Feng is escaping!"

She narrowed her eyes, sensing him and Jet racing off to chase him through a hole the Avatar carved through the wall, while the rest of the group continued to focus on the Dai Li agents; she knew what was at stake with the leader of the Dai Li, and decided she ought to finish whoever remained.

"Everyone!" she shouted to get their attention, pointing in the direction the other two had raced off, "Get in the tunnel, I'll handle this." she declared, Katara, Sokka, Longshot and Smellerbee quickly racing off to the hole in the wall while she sent pillars at the chasing Dai Li agents, offering her friends a moment to escape.

As soon as they made it through the hole in the wall, she thrust her hand down, making a crack all the way through the cavern, before moving her hands apart, bending the roof of the cavern to shreds and collapsing the soil and rock ontop of her; given a moment to react to the collapse, she raised a hand, blocking the rocks that fell from crushing her rather small body, before thrusting a fist forward, using earthbending to throw herself through the hole in the wall. She skidded on the ground, groaning in pain as she sensed about, making sure none of the Dai Li agents got through; to her relief, that was the case, and she was helped up by Katara.

"Wow, Toph, that was pretty impressive." she admitted, making her smirk giddy.

"Well, of course, I did say I was the best earthbender in the world."

* * *

"All right, Avatar, you've caused me enough problems. This is your last chance... if you want your bison back."

Aang scowled in rage, realising that the intelligence Jet had provided was most certainly true.

"You do have Appa! Tell me where he is!" he demanded, as he was teetering on the edge of wanting to crush Long Feng with a rock; Aang acknowledged at that moment the poor influence Toph had been on his mindset when it came to fighting.

Long Feng smirked at him, still seemingly confident in himself, "Agree to exit the city now, and I'll waive all charges against you and allow you to leave with your lost pet."

"You're in no position to bargain." Jet declared, reading his swords

"Am I not?" he asked them, the Avatar reading a stance with his staff in hand.

"You're definitely not." he grit his teeth, the Grand Secretariat opening his arms, as if he were to surrender.

"Oh, well... I guess I'll just have to do this the dirty way." he acknowledged, before clapping his hands together, the earth under both of their feet liquefying, before he pulled two rock gloves from his cloak.

Aang, already having a decent grip on his earthbending abilities, was able to use the situation to his advantage, bending the liquid stone that Jet was sinking into out as a pillar thrusting him at Long Feng, much to his surprise; the Freedom Fighter tried to strike him with a hook sword, but his opponent used one of his rock gloves to clasp Jet's chest and throw him backward, keeping at bay, if only for a moment.

"You fools." the callous earthbender smirked, sending his other rock glove at the Avatar, who shattered the weapon with an air-blast, before using earthbending to propel himself out of the liquefied stone, sending a wave of air his opponent's way.

His opponent dodged the wind blast, before thrusting a pillar at Aang, who despite blocking the stirke with his staff, was flung back into the air; he opened his glider and flew around the room for a moment, distracting Long Feng's glance while Jet recollected himself, racing at the Grand Secretariat with seemingly lethal intent. Before he could hit him, Long Feng sent a portion of the wall into the Freedom Fighter, flinging him to the ground like a ragdoll, where he shouted out in pain.

"Argh!" he yelped, wincing on the ground, unable to fight; the Avatar used the opportunity wisely, using his airbending to strike his enemy directly, throwing him back into the wall; when he landed on his feet, he didn't relent to grapple him down with two pillars of earth, copying a move he had seen Toph use.

"Where's Appa! Tell me now!" he demanded, the Grand Secretariat looking at him smugly.

"What are you going to do if I don't? Give me a lecture about morals and being a nice person? That's not going to work on me, Avatar." he grit his teeth, before moving his hands.

The motion created a pillar of earth which struck the Avatar right off his feet, flinging him into the air unexpectedly; when two pillars came flying at him from opposite directions, he was forced to use an air-scooter to lift himself above them. Suddenly he heard a rushing noise above him, as another pillar came from the roof; he leapt forward to get out of the way, only to find himself in the path of another pillar, which he kicked off, bending the top off of it, and tossing it right at Long Feng.

He dissolved the rock with his bending, Aang landing on the ground in front of him, panting as he readied his staff once more, "You won't win." he declared, trying to game him into surrendering; he wasn't surprised when his opponent refused, throwing another rock his way.

The rock was shattered by a hook-sword that swung in front of him, Jet having returned to his feet, despite the glancing injuries he'd received; using one sword, he was able to deflect a number of rocks thrown their way, before he pointed to the pipes on the wall in front of them.

"Aang! The water!" he told him, the Avatar smirking as he understood the suggestion well enough; grabbing a hold of the water in one of the pipes, he funnelled it out with his bending before dropping it on Long Feng at an intense speed, splashing down and flinging him across the room as water spilt out everywhere.

He and Jet approached, hearing a familiar noise of breaking as the rock wall Long Feng had created to block them in the room fell, revealing Toph and the others, who were ready to fight.

Spitting water out of his mouth, the Grand Secretariat sighed with frustration, returning to his feet, "You are nuisances, and you will be dealt with." he declared, raising a wall of stone before sending it at the duo, Aang cutting a hole through the slab as it came their way, allowing him and Jet to walk right on through.

Their opponent didn't give up however, using a chain that shot out from his robe to grab Jet by the ankle, dragging him toward him while he procured a boulder from the wall nearby, "Your insolence ends now!" he declared, the Avatar bending the water at his feet to try and throw it at him before he could harm his friend.

To his shock, before either of them could do anything, a blinding white light filled the room and was followed by a booming noise; opening his eyes, he made sight of Long Feng, falling down to the ground unconscious, a burn going straight through his chest. What he had just seen was lightning generation, something he knew a certain person who had been chasing them could do; of all the things he didn't want to deal with, it was Azula. Except it wasn't, as when he narrowed his eyes, he realised he wasn't looking at the Fire Nation Princess, but rather a teen in dark clothes wearing a blue and white theatre mask- the Blue Spirit.

"L-Lee..." he heard Jet mumble, his voice fearful as the teen stood above him and Long Feng's unconscious body.

"I told you not to come here, Jet." he chided him, the Avatar recognising the voice immediately.

"Lee?!" he questioned, "That's not the Blue Spirit, that's-"

"Zuko." he heard Sokka call out behind him; a moment later, the mask was taken from his face, revealing that to most certainly be the case.

"I didn't want anything to do with this." he indicated down to Long Feng, "But Jet just decided his death-wish was to get crushed by an earthbender."

"Zuko? Who's Zuko?" Jet asked, utterly confused, before his face turned into a snarl, "Y-you're a- you're-" his tone rose, obviously intending to fight him, upon realising he was a firebender; he didn't have the chance, as the Fire Nation Prince quickly sent a foot into his head, knocking him unconscious, something that didn't take much effort after the beating he had already taken from Long Feng.

Zuko looked up to Aang before pointing down toward the entrance which he had taken into the room, "I found Appa and released him, he's probably outside already." he clarified, the Avatar's jaw dropping with surprise; not only had the Fire Nation Prince come to save Jet, but he had actually found and freed his sky-bison, something that he didn't take lightly.

"Th-thank you, Zuko. How can we repay you?" he asked him, the Prince turning around before sighing.

"By staying out of my way." he simply told him, before he put the mask back on his face, racing out of the room without another word.

"He's a weird guy." he mumbled, turning to his two Water Tribe friends, who approached him with surprised glances.

"Wow, did I hear that right... he freed Appa?" Sokka asked, the Avatar nodding in confirmation, Katara's eyes lighting up in hope.

"That's great news! Let's go get him!" he exclaimed, the Avatar clenching his staff, before glancing toward Long Feng's unconscious body.

"Yeah- there's just one other thing we need to do." he clarified, his happy smile turning glare of determination, the two Water Tribe teens glancing the same way he was.

"We're going to need to explain this all to the Earth King- immediately."


	38. Kyoshi Warriors in Ba Sing Se

_Opening the door to the palace infirmary, Azula smirked, glancing her brother's way with a rare face of approval; she realised that despite the odds, Zuko had actually gotten her to the infirmary without getting spotted by any guards; it was less a case of her actually caring and more so an opportunity to dare her brother into proving his skills. She was not disappointed, noting his light feet and quick reflexes, checking corners, hand-signals as well as taking note of their environment to the most minute detail; if she hadn't known any better, she would have thought he might have been trained from a young age as some kind of assassin. The thought of her innocent, goodie two-shoes brother actually doing something so obscene and violent made her chuckle, knowing that it would take a lot more time tempering the blade that was her brother before he'd be capable, let alone willing to do such a thing._

_"Okay, we got to the infirmary without being spotted. Will you get your foot looked at?" he asked her, the Princess sighing before nodding in confirmation._

_"Yes, I'll get my foot checked, Zuzu. How else will I be able to get back into shape so I can beat the victory off your face?" she asked him, her eyes glaring at him with devious desire, the Prince clearing his throat, obviously not comfortable with the thought of her beating him once again in a spar._

_The two of them walked in, the palace's physician looking at them with surprise as he saw them enter, "Oh, your highnesses, I wasn't expecting you." he bowed to them respectfully, Zuko chuckling at his words._

_"Unexpected injuries happen." he admitted, earning a snicker from his sister, who ever so slightly appreciated the humour, "Isn't that right?"_

_She raised a finger to her chin, "Yes, but far more often to you." she glared at him, a small blue flame forming on her finger tip, as if to warn him for what would happen next them they met in the training grounds._

_"A sprained ankle?" the physician asked her, looking down at her limping, raised left leg._

_"What does it look like?" she quipped back, to which he didn't verbally respond, turning around to the large cabinet that housed a variety of medicinal pastes and concoctions that would be used to treat injuries and illnesses._

_She sat up on a one of the beds that laid in rows through the room, her brother sitting down beside her, "Wow, so was that the first time I actually injured you in a spar?" he asked her, the Princess raising a brow at him in thought._

_"Huh, I guess it was. I'm not going to count the minor burns, because I'm very much used to it at this point." she acknowledged, "A firebender shouldn't be afraid of fire, but the power behind it." she proverbially described the experience she had had, making her brother chuckle._

_"I'll remind uncle of that proverb and tell him some philosopher said it and see if he believes me." Zuko mused, making her snicker, not wanting to break down laughing in front of the doctor who was about to treat her ankle._

_"That'd be brilliant. I'd like to see the look on his face when he found out it was I, Princess Azula, who created my own firebending theory!" she proclaimed confidently, her brother rolling his eyes at her unbridled confidence._

_"It is good advice. I claim credit, as I was the one to knock you on your butt." he proudly declared, the Princess narrowing a glare at him._

_"I will not share credit with you. My proverb is mine alone." she refused, the Prince turning around, disgruntled by her attitude, while the physician approached her, with a small box of herbal paste._

_"Your highness, if you'd let me, this paste could be applied to your foot. It should stop any pain in the muscles and allow you to walk comfortably." he asked her, the Princess nodding, grabbing her left boot and drawing it off, before she threw it into Zuko's hands, her brother fumbling about with it as he nearly dropped it on the ground._

_Once she had her foot bared, the physician looked up to her, waiting for verbal approval, before she raised her chin, "Proceed."_

_With that he began to apply the cold paste onto her ankle, the feeling of tingling spreading up her leg as she felt the sense of feeling in her foot weaken, to the point at which there was no more pain._

_"Huh, is it working?" her brother asked, to which she made a face of surprise, nodding along slowly._

_"Uh- yeah. My foot feels a little weird, but it doesn't hurt anymore." she acknowledged, before the physician grabbed a small wool bandage, tying it over her ankle to keep the paste in place, before he returned to his feet and bowed to her in respect._

_"That should help, your highness." he told her, the Princess waving her hand in dismissal._

_"That is all you are needed for." she directed him, before turning to face her brother, "Zuzu, my boot." she demanded of him quite bluntly, the Prince handing her back the ornate leather and metal boot, which she slid back onto her foot quite snugly, feeling confident as she stood back on two feet; a few moments after she stood up, her left foot buckled, making her realise that even if the paste numbed her pain, it didn't mean she was capable of walking on that foot._

_"How about we go do something that doesn't require us to throw fireballs at each other?" he asked her, the Princess raising a brow at him._

_"Like what, Pai Sho?" she questioned, her brother fervently shaking his head._

_"Definitely not Pai Sho, because there's no chance I'll win." he admitted honestly, making her snicker._

_"Well then, perhaps we should see to grandfather's study once more?" she asked, the Prince rolling his eyes._

_"No offense, but reading a bunch of dusty old tomes isn't my word for fun." he derided her idea, making her cross her arms defiantly._

_"My idea is a good one. You just don't have the foresight to understand why."_

* * *

"In our hour of need, it is the highest honour that I welcome our esteemed allies, the Kyoshi Warriors!"

Azula looked up at the Earth King, the man who was supposedly leading the nation she sought to conquer; he was a feeble looking man, young and naive looking. That only made her smile all the more sweeter as she accepted his words; dressed in imitation of her brother's lover, she knew this was the most satisfying way she could have entered the great city of Ba Sing Se.

"We are the Earth King's humble servants."

She was about to take down the last bastion of the Earth Kingdom, all the while she took up the act of a noble Earth Kingdom fighter. She would not end their resistance by conquering its walls, but by using the faces of her brother's allies against the Earth Kingdom and the Avatar; she would finally achieve her victory and she would retrieve her brother from whatever hell-hole he had decided to himself in. By the simple fact she was in the city, her enemies had already lost. She assumed that the Avatar's friends' themselves had informed the Earth King that they were friends, which made her smirk.

"You will be given quarters, of course," the Earth King assured her, before he raised a brow at them with interest, "but first, I'd like to hear from travelled women like yourselves about the state of affairs in the Earth Kingdom." Azula bowing courteously at him before she, Ty Lee and Mai walked along behind the monarch and his guards up into the palace proper.

As she and her accomplices walked up alongside him, heading up toward the throne room the Earth King turned to her, "So, how does my country fare? The Avatar and his friends have told me much already, but I have realised I am in dire need of perspective."

"Your majesty," she let the deference roll of her tongue, knowing in truth she was of equal standing or greater than the man who stood before her, surrounded by guards in a massively ornate palace, "My warriors and I have experienced much... hardship in travelling across our great kingdom. We came from our island, to- uh- protect and help our fellow countrymen, because..." she made up an excuse, falling short of guessing as to why the actual Kyoshi Warriors had left their small poor island with her brother.

"We were inspired by the Avatar." Ty Lee piped up, "He and his friends, yeah, they were amaaaazing." she exclaimed with an exaggerated tone of awe, trying to keep up the act that they were good friends with the Avatar and his cronies.

"Indeed they are. I have recently gained a new perspective on life, and my role as Earth King, all thanks to them." the monarch explained himself, Azula feigning interest.

"Oh, is that so, your majesty?" she piqued, the young ruler more than willing to go into the details.

"I was blinded by my own contentment and failed to realise who was trying to control me." he explained, the Princess curling her lips; it was terribly ironic of him to say that as he was welcoming the daughter of the Fire Lord into his home.

"Well, we must thank the Avatar for his wisdom. Where is our mutual friend, might I ask?" she decided to question, sure that she would be better off knowing exactly where the Avatar was off to at that time.

"Oh, Aang has gone on a journey to the Eastern Air Temple. To meet a guru." he clarified, "He and Sokka left only a few moments before you and your friends arrived."

"A shame." she noted, "I would have liked to meet our friends once more." she lied, knowing that her plans would be compromised if the Avatar's group figured out they were in the palace impersonating the Kyoshi Warriors; Ty Lee's eyes darted her way and a smirk curled on her lips, noticing the unintentional double entendre she had made, concerning a certain Water Tribe teen.

The group entered the throne room, and the Royal Earthbender Guards moved to the sides of the room, standing in station, while the Earth King led the trio toward his rather impressive throne; although it was nothing to compare to her father's, she could acknowledge the majesty of the throne itself. She smirked at the thought of her sitting on the throne, once Ba Sing Se was hers; all she needed was time, and the power of lies, something she assumed the city was built on, if the Earth King's musings were to be considered a valid judgement of his own government. Beside the throne, a bear roared lightly, slightly frightening the Princess, who then realised a moment later that it was the Earth King's pet; he approached it with a wide smile, patting him.

"Bosco! We have some new friends." he indicated to the group, who sat down in front of the throne, Azula in front, intently watching the Earth King, ready to hear whatever he had to say.

"Your majesty, your bear seems quite friendly." she acknowledged, the Earth King brightening up, patting his pet as it sat up beside the throne.

"He most certainly is. Isn't that right?" he asked Bosco, who growled in approval, "Look Bosco! The Kyoshi Warriors are here to protect us! Aren't you excited?" he asked him, the bear yawning, before the Earth King sat himself up in his throne, looking back toward the trio, "It's been a difficult week for me. My most trusted advisor, Long Feng, and his Dai Li agents tried to take control of Ba Sing Se from me."

She curled her lips into a smile, that might have looked like approval to the monarch; the Dai Li could be her ticket to taking power in the city, seeing that they must be the primary intelligence organisation, and she knew better than anyone that knowledge was power.

"It's terrible when you can't trust the people who are closest to you." she suggested, the irony of her words making her want to laugh, but she held back, keeping her face serious and her tone calm.

"But there is good news." he smiled at them, almost gleefully, "As we speak, the Council of Five is meeting to plan an invasion of the Fire Nation this summer, on the day of a solar eclipse."

Her eyes widened, realising the implications of what she was hearing; she calmed herself a moment later, knowing that if Ba Sing Se was hers by that point, there would be nothing to worry about.

"Really?" she feigned interest, "Now that sounds like a fascinating and brilliant plan." she turned her eyes away, trying to make sure her friends weren't over-reacting to the monarch's words.

"Yes. It is a brilliant plan. Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe came up with it himself." he explained further, making her twitch in thought; of course it was the Water Tribe boy, she chided herself.

"Well, we'll have to thank him for his genius when he returns." she acknowledged, the sarcasm in her voice not catching the Earth King's attention; behind her she heard Ty Lee snicker, making her twitch- this was the worst time for her to find humour in the stupidity that was teen crushes.

"We most certainly will." she heard the acrobat mumble under her breath.

"Now, your majesty, you said the Dai Li tried to take control from you. I'd like to know how we could prevent such a situation again." she asked of him, the monarch eagerly smiling at them.

"Of course, I know that I need some new people to trust to keep me and my city safe. The Avatar has shown me that. The Dai Li need a new direction." he explained his thoughts, the Princess's lips curling, knowing that he had a very good point, even if he didn't intend to make it.

"I couldn't agree any more."

* * *

Wiping the Kyoshi Warrior make-up from her face, Ty Lee beamed a smile at her reflection, realising that Azula's plan had worked without a hitch; they had used the outfits and make-up of the Kyoshi Warriors as a way of fooling the Earth Kingdom military into thinking they were really Kyoshi Warriors, using fabricated passports that the Princess had procured to make themselves look like the real deal. Their gambit in thinking the Earth King would let them in as allies of the Avatar worked just as well, and from the sounds it, they were really lucky. The acrobat grimaced in thought of what might have happened if the Dai Li was still in control of Ba Sing Se when they arrived, like how the Earth King had told them; she didn't want to end up in an Earth Kingdom prison, and neither did Mai or Azula.

"We have been presented with an extraodinary opportunity, girls." the Princess told them, making Ty Lee glance toward Mai, realising a joke she could make.

"Mai finally gets to wear make-up that's not totally depressing?" she asked, the stoic girl looking back at her with dark splotches of make-up running down her face.

"Ha, ha." she sarcastically imitated a laugh, before Azula continued on her exposition, as she always did.

"I'm talking about conquering the whole Earth Kingdom." she proclaimed, the two of them looking at the Princess with shock; conquering the Earth Kingdom was a bit over what she was expecting, which was finding Zuko and capturing the Avatar with him, "For one hundred years, the Fire Nation has hammered away at Ba Sing Se from the outside. But now we're on the inside, and we can take it by ourselves.

"Gosh, you're so confident." the acrobat exclaimed, awestruck by her determination, "I really admire that about you."

"From the inside, we're in perfect position to orangise a coup and overthrow the Earth King. The key is the Dai Li. Whoever controls the Dai Li controls Ba Sing Se." she turned back to them, a smirk wide on her face.

"But what about Zuko? And the Avatar?" Ty Lee asked in curiosity.

"Zuzu will be ours as soon as the city is ours." she stressed, "And the Avatar... even if he's gone for the moment, Katara is the perfect hostage." she narrowed her eyes, deviously smirking as she raised her hand up, inspecting her nails, "Does that answer your questions, Ty?"

"Yep. So... the Dai Li. How do we take over the Dai Li?" she asked, the Princess placing her hands on her hips.

"Oh, it's quite simple actually." she acknowledged, "I just need someone to be a loud-mouth, and they'll catch onto us. As long as they don't realise we actually want to take over their organisation, they'll work with us." she argued, Ty Lee looking at her with slight embarrassment.

"So... I'm going to gossip us into being captured by the Dai Li?" she asked, the Princess raising her hands, acknowledging her interpretation.

"For all intents and purposes, yes. We need the Dai Li to believe we are searching for the Avatar, because that gives them a reason to work with us." she furthered, Mai looking at her sceptically.

"So you think a bunch of earthbenders are just going to work with us, just because we want to get rid of the Avatar, and they want that too?" she asked, the Princess shaking her head.

"No. We have the trust of the Earth King, something that they lack. if they want to return to power, they will need that. The Earth King's guards and the army will oppose such an action, so we could provide them with the opportunity of retaking power, under the pretences of capturing the Avatar." she explained the plan, Ty Lee and Mai both nodding in confirmation.

"Wow. That's a pretty good plan. If we're lucky we'll be able to do it all without anyone else noticing, and... bam! We find Zuko, take the Avatar, and go home!" she exclaimed brightly, Mai rolling her eyes at her enthusiasm.

"If that's what it takes to get home, then I'm down for this whole crazy plan you've concocted." she agreed with the Princess, who placed her hands on her hips.

"Exactly. We will return home heroes, my brother will regain his title and honour, and we shall be lauded in history for all time." she proclaimed, Ty Lee scratching her chin in thought.

"Ooo... are they going to give you one of those title-name-thingies?" she asked, the stoic girl raising a finger.

"An epithet?" to which Ty Lee grinned, pointing a finger at her friend in confirmation.

"Exactly! Azula the... uh- Conqueror?" she asked, the Princess curling her lips, raising a brow as she considered her possible epithets.

"Something with dragon in it would be nice, just to rub it in my traitor uncle's face."

* * *

Prince Zuko was having a good day, something that might have been an oddity a few months prior, but seemed to relatively common-place; the dealings under Lake Laogai were far from his mind, as well as the Avatar and all the things he knew he had to deal with. He and Iroh had opened the Jasmine Dragon, and were getting plenty of customers; although his uncle was always a giddy, for the first time in a while, he seemed genuinely ecstatic, and that mood rubbed off on him. Although he wanted to leave Ba Sing Se as soon as possible to go find the Kyoshi Warriors, he knew that he would help his uncle for a while; he needed to, because that was his obligation as a good nephew. Although he was enjoying himself, he realised the workload that he and his uncle had to deal with owning their own tea-shop had increased dramatically.

He was standing by a table, taking the orders of two rich noblemen, who were intent on trying some of the rumoured 'best tea in Ba Sing Se', "Yes, uh- two jasmine? Is that good, Wong?" one asked another, who nodded to his friend.

"Indeed, it is in the name." he noted, making Zuko chuckle under his breath.

"It sure is." he acknowledged, thinking back to the moment his uncle had considered the extremely stupid sounding name 'the Tea Weevil', before smiling at the patrons, "Of course, two jasmines coming right up."

He walked back over toward the kitchen, where his uncle was working away at brewing a number of pots of tea, "Uncle! I need two jasmine, one green and one lychee!" he recounted the orders he had just taken in that past minute.

"I'm brewing as fast as I can!" Iroh assured him, quickly trying to make the requested tea, handling a number of pots at once.

A few moments later he turned back to face the front of the shop, glancing around to see if any tables needed serving, when he realised he recognised someone standing at the door; her blue tunic and the lemur on her shoulder indicated well enough- Katara had decided to visit their tea shop. She looked at him with a surprised look but went to sit down at the table, giving him a wave; the Prince was obliged to go serve his customers, knowing he might have an awkward conversation with the Water Tribe girl. They had never been on the best of terms, but he guessed that she had some pity for him, after hearing a bit about his history from Oyaji- and his uncle, back in Omashu. He realised he had no idea what his uncle had been telling the Avatar and his friends; did they know about his quest to capture the Avatar, and that he had relinquished it?

"Hi, Zuko. Didn't expect to see you here." she addressed him as he came up to the table, the Prince smiling, remembering the fact that he and his uncle had amazingly got their own tea-shop in the span of a few weeks.

"Yeah, we just opened this tea-shop. It's been uncle's dream for a while now." he admitted, making her smile, raising a brow as she reminisced.

"He did mention it when we met him in Omashu." she acknowledged, before the Prince cleared his throat.

"Y-yeah." he mumbled, "I'm assuming you know a lot more about me than I do about you."

"Don't worry. I know you're not here to do anything... brash." she smiled at him, Zuko appreciating the fact someone was genuinely believing in his goodwill, "So, can I get a cup of tea?" she asked, the Prince widening his eyes, realising that was the actual reason she was there.

"Oh, of course." he affirmed, "What kind would you like? We do have a wide variety of choices." he indicated down to the menu in her hands, the Water Tribe girl scanning over it for a moment before looking back up to him.

"I feel like we've been in this situation before." she mused, the Prince rolling his eyes, remembering back to all the chores he had been doing on Kyoshi Island.

"At least I get paid now." he admitted, "So, what did you choose?"

"A green tea, please." she requested, the Prince nodding, before walking back over to his uncle.

"One green, Uncle!" he told him, before leaning over the bench that sat between the kitchen and the rest of the store, "Katara's here." he told him in a quieter voice, his uncle looking back to him with interest.

"Oh, she's come to appreciate my tea again." he smiled, the Prince chuckling off his comment.

"Should we be worried? The Avatar and his friends already knew we were in Ba Sing Se, but now they know where we work." he admitted, the retired general shaking his head, handing him the tray of tea cups that he had requested prior.

"No, nephew. Aang and his friends aren't our enemies. They won't do anything to endanger our new peace." he assured his nephew, who nodded before taking the tray into his hands.

He walked over and handed the two noblemen their tea, who nodded with smiles on their faces as they smelt the aroma of their jasmine tea; he walked over to another table, handing a woman her lychee tea, and then the man across from her his green tea, before he walked back over to his uncle, waiting to serve Katara like his tea; his mind did immediately drift back to when he was serving the Avatar and his friend's dinner, and had small fit over it. Of course, Zuko wouldn't ever do that now- he was calm of mind and centred on his goals, not on a quest that no longer concerned him.

"Nephew, here's that green tea." he explained, placing the cup on the tray.

He smiled to his uncle before turning his heels, walking across the room toward the Water Tribe girl's table, placing her cup down, before she indicated to the seat across from her.

"You should sit." she suggested, "I've been wanting to ask you about something."

He raised a brow, sitting himself down across from her, "Oh- uh- okay. What did you want to ask?" he fumbled his hands, feeling a little nervous; he knew that his uncle hadn't told him everything about what happened at Omashu, and he had a feeling he would find out a little more now that Katara wanted to talk with him.

"Do you want to be Fire Lord?" she asked him bluntly, his eyes widening, as he reeled back, looking around before hushing her; she realised she was speaking to loud and toned her voice down to a whisper, "So do you?"

"Uh- well, I was the Crown Prince, as you probably heard." he eyed his uncle before turning back to face her, "But I'm not really concerned with becoming Fire Lord... at least at the moment."

"You betrayed the Fire Nation, didn't you, so doesn't that mean the only way you can become Fire Lord is by defeating your father?" she asked, the Prince clearing his throat; even Suki hadn't been as blunt as Katara in her questioning, but he understood why- the Water Tribe girl was determined to follow the Avatar's cause.

"Not exactly. But that's beside the point, I'm not worried about that at the moment. I'm worried about finding my girlfriend." he explained himself, the girl's eyes widening, looking at him with confusion.

"Girlfriend?" she asked with a rather embarrassed looked face, the Prince glancing at her, confused by her misunderstanding.

"Didn't Sokka mention it? Suki's my girlfriend." he clarified, Katara's eyes widening, nearly dropping the tea cup out of her hand.

"Oh- really?" she asked, a smile of surprise forming on her lips, "It just happens that the Kyoshi Warriors arrived at the palace yesterday."

"Wh-what?!" he exclaimed, his tone alerting the patrons, before he stood up, "Uh- just drink that tea, I'll be back in a second." he explained himself, before racing over to his uncle; Iroh looked at him with surprise and slight concern after noticing his exclamation.

"Is something wrong, nephew?" he asked him, Zuko shaking his head.

"No, Uncle. I just got the best news, Suki is in Ba Sing Se! She and the Kyoshi Warriors are at the palace, right now." he beamed, his uncle giving him a smile, raising a brow at him.

"What was it we were just talking about?" he rhetorically asked him, "It seems like fate works in mysterious ways, Zuko. You may go off shift now- you deserve to see your girlfriend after all the work you've done." he accepted his request without him even having to make it.

"Thank you, Uncle." he bowed slightly in courtesy before walking over to a part of the kitchen where he could take off the top layer of his uniform and hang it up, making his outfit seem a little more casual than what it would be otherwise; he turned back around and waved to his uncle before walking up to Katara, who had drunk her green tea and was standing waiting with the flying-lemur on her shoulder.

"Come on, I'll take you to them. They're probably on duty- they've been protecting the Earth King personally since they got here." she explained, the Prince nodding, before scratching his chin.

"Huh- so do you know how they got here?" he asked, the Water Tribe girl shrugging her shoulders.

"Honestly, I don't know. I haven't spoken with them since I arrived." she admitted, the two of them turning to walk through the front door, Zuko giving a curt wave to his uncle, who waved back as he continued to prepare tea for the numerous patrons that just seemed to keep flowing in.

As they walked down the streets of the Upper Ring toward the palace, the Prince began to ponder what he would say or do when he saw Suki again; that he missed her, that he wanted to never leave her side again? The Prince didn't want to sound overly clingy or lovey-dovey; he wanted to sound sincere, and straight from the heart.

"Katara, what do you think I should say to her when I see her?" he asked the Water Tribe girl, who looked at him with a slight blush, before she looked off into the distance.

"Uh- I don't really know. I'm not very good when it comes to this kind of stuff." she admitted, Zuko chuckling.

"Same here. That's why I wanted a second opinion." he conceded, the Water Tribe girl raising a finger to her chin.

"You don't need to say anything, do you? You could just hug her. Hugging always works." she curled her lips, the Prince nodding along, understanding the sentiment.

"Y-yeah. That makes sense. I just don't want to stuff this up."

"Just be yourself, there's no way you could stuff it up." she assured him, patting him on the shoulder.

"Thanks. I just hope that she's all right. I have no idea what they've had to deal with since we split apart." he sighed, the Water Tribe girl raising a brow at him.

"Why did you split up?" she asked, the Prince sighing, realising that Sokka really hadn't shared the contents of their conversation; whether that was a good thing was up for debate, but he felt like he was repeating himself when he had to explain it all again to Katara.

"We did the wrong thing for the right reason." he simplified the story, "The Earth Kingdom military was hunting us down, and we decided it would be best for Uncle and I to go to Ba Sing Se, where he would be safe and able to settle down. I don't want to get him involved with any of this." he admitted, the Water Tribe girl raising a brow.

"Taking down your father?" she asked, the Prince narrowing his eyes, before nodding, knowing that she was right.

"I guess it really is that when you think about it."

* * *

Princess Azula was kneeling before the throne of the Earth King with her friends, silently awaiting any news from the Dai Li. She knew that they would have caught on to them, and when they did, they would lead her right to the heart of Ba Sing Se, providing her with an opportunity to seize control of the organisation, and with it, the city. She saw the Water Tribe girl walking up toward them, making her curl her lips, before her eyes widened, realising that she was walking with someone she was very familiar with; Zuko was walking alongside the enemy, to go see them no doubt, as Katara was still under the illusion that they were the real Kyoshi Warriors. As the pair approached, she saw Zuko's smile turn into a fearful grimace as he scanned their faces, grabbing the Water Tribe teen by the shoulder.

"Katara! That's not the Kyoshi Warriors!" he exclaimed, "That's my sister!" he pointed to her, the girl's eyes widening with fear as she immediately drew out water from her water skin, the Princess standing up, and breaking her act, beginning to clap her hands, the smile on her face not callous at all, but rather genuinely happy that she had found her brother once more in the most unintended fashion.

"Zuzu. You've come at the perfect time to rejoin us." she curled her lips, Katara looking at her brother with distraught, before he indicated behind her toward the doors.

"Go find get the guards! I'll handle this." he declared, the Princess shaking her finger disapprovingly, before he took a stance, ready to fight Azula, who simply glanced to Ty Lee.

"Go get the waterbender, we'll deal with Zuzu." she directed the acrobat, who raced forth, Zuko unable to stop her as she sped on past, following after Katara, who was already some distance away.

The banished prince approached her, sparks of fire appearing in his palms, "What did you do with the Kyoshi Warriors? What did you do to Suki?!" he asked her, his tone growing seriously aggrieved, the Princess rolling her eyes.

"Don't worry, they're safely imprisoned; I didn't kill or maim them, if that's what you were thinking." she assured her brother, not alleviating his anger.

"Why Azula?! Why'd you capture them?" he asked her, glancing back momentarily to notice Katara was still fending off Ty Lee.

"Because they tried to sabotage a Fire Nation facility. They did succeed, although they only took the workers we had there." she acknowledged, before narrowing her eyes, "I was following protocol, brother. Did you forget that existed?" she asked him, his teeth flaring as flames formed in his palms.

"Protocol doesn't exist for fugitives, I'm free to do what I please." he declared, taking a firebending stance, Azula doing the same, ready to fight her idiot of a brother if he really desired to do so.

"So, what are you going to do, Zuzu?" she asked him with a cunning smirk, knowing her brother wasn't going to harm her; he hadn't when they were children, but a seed of doubt formed in her mind, knowing that his devotion for his damned Kyoshi Warrior girlfriend might get the better of him.

"I'm going to prove a point." he declared with a determined glare.

In his right hand, the flames intensified, indicating to her that he was about to send a blast her way; she was prepared for the stream of fire that was sent her way, deflecting the flames with her own hands, cutting the stream in two, each part flying to either side of her. He raced up to approach her, spinning around, sending a kick of flames at her, the Princess ducking before jabbing him in the side with a fire blast.

"Should I intervene?" Mai asked rather nonchalantly as the two siblings stood only feet apart.

Azula dismissed her worries, "Don't worry, let Zuzu have his fun."

Her words only seemed to further anger her brother, who spun his arms around, sparks forming in his hands, "Where is she?!" he demanded of her, the Princess rolling her eyes.

"Come on brother. Do it, I dare you." she prodded him, the Prince screaming out, flames coming from his mouth and bellowing out up toward the high roof above them; instead of sending a bolt of lightning her way, he sent a number of fire jabs, which she was able to disperse, sending her foot around to literally wipe away his attacks, before sending a kick his way.

He flared his teeth forming daggers of flames in his hands, pouncing forward to tackle her, the Princess jumping out of the way, but found one of the daggers very close to her face; when she tried to move away and retake her stance, Zuko had grabbed one of the armour plates on her Kyoshi Warrior outfit, holding her still while he stared her down, still infuriated. She kicked him in the leg, throwing him off, and forcing him to the ground; she was ready to knock him out with a charged firebending punch, but was surprised to see him deflect it with a fan, which he had stolen off of her belt. As she sent a number of fireballs his way, he deflected them all with the fan, before she grit her teeth charging flames with her pointed fingers, before spinning them and sending a powerful wave of fire, directed right at the weapon, which was flung out of his hand as the flames licked his skin. He yelped from the burning of his hand, but didn't relent to send a number of blasts her way, one of them catching her feet as she was moving to dodge the attacks, throwing her to the ground; she sent up a charged blast of blue flames, which dissipated into thin air as it collided with his open palm. Azula realised that she had underestimated her brother's firebending skills as he stood over her, much like when their father had to him during their Agni Kai.

"So brother, are you going to hit me? Are you going to prove your point?" she goaded him, the Prince scowling in anger, his stance falling as he looked down at her with utter disdain.

"Oh, you're so damn fucking lucky." he clenched his fists, the flames dissipating, before he turned around, back to face Katara.

"I know that." she declared triumphantly, rising to her feet as she watched Ty Lee take care of Katara, who she had by that point had been knocked out with chi-blocking, her water pouch spilling over the floor while the acrobat stood over in victory.

"No. Not because of your firebending, or because you're the favoured child of our father." he refuted her belief, "Because you're my sister, and that means something to me."

"That pact was binding, was it not?" she asked him with a curl of the lips, the Prince sighing, acknowledging her assumption to be true; her brother had given up their fight, not out of cowardice, but out of respect, just as he had when he duelled their father.

"Yes it was. As much as I'd like to break your nose for beating up my girlfriend and stealing her clothes, I'm going to avoid incurring the wrath of Princess Azula." he explained his thoughts quite bluntly, before his eyes noted Mai standing there, not having been addressed, just playing with her fan, "Oh, hi, Mai." he mumbled, unsure how to address her; she looked at him for a moment before raising a brow.

"So are you not throwing him in prison, Azula?" she asked the Princess, who crossed her arms, looking at her brother with thought.

"Well, it depends on what Zuzu does next..." she suggested, as Ty Lee walking up to approach Zuko, ready to chi-block him if he resisted.

"What I do next... I only have one choice Azula." he acknowledged, making her look at her brother with wide, curious eyes.

"And what would that be?" she asked, to which he sighed.

"Join you." he acknowledged, the Princess looking at him with surprise.

"Wait, so you're going to join me, just like that. Even after I captured your girlfriend?" she questioned the soundness of his thought process; as good as it was that he was willing to join her, in her eyes, it didn't make much sense that he'd just give up right then and there.

"I... I love Suki." he mumbled, looking uncomfortable with expressing his emotions, before his face skewed, his expression becoming almost unnaturally cold and determined, "But... Azula, have you ever heard of that the means justifies the ends?" he asked her, to which she rolled her eyes.

"Of course I have." she dismissed his question, "Father tells me that all the time."

"Well, I have an ends, and I am willing to do anything to achieve them." he stressed, stepping closer to her, "Anything."

"Anything, brother?" she asked, the Prince chuckling, opening his arms wide, looking at her with slight annoyance, as if she hadn't gotten the gist of what he was saying.

"Yeah, I'll help you overthrow the Earth King." he accepted her proposition without her even having to make it, the Princess's intent smirk faltering, uneasy in hearing her brother immediately understand her plan.

"Yes, I didn't tell you I always wanted to-" she began to explain her reason, before he simply cut her off, adding to his presumption.

"And you're going to use the Dai Li to do it." he predicted correctly, before narrowing his eyes, "But you need to get control of the Dai Li, from Long Feng." he acknowledged, Ty Lee stepping from behind the Prince to look at her.

"Uh, Azula. He literally just explained your plan without knowing anything about it." she took note of the situation, the Princess sighing.

"You know me better than I'd thought brother." she admitted, the Prince shrugging his shoulders.

"I know Ba Sing Se, and I know the Dai Li." he stressed, "If you need me to zap Long Feng with lightning again, just call on me- he probably deserves it." he suggested, the Princess's eyes widening at her brother.

"Sorry, again?" she asked in clarification, to which he nodded, "You shot him with lightning? When?"

"You won't like the answer to that question."


	39. By Any Means Necessary

_"Nephew, you don't have to fight Zhao. It isn't necessary."_

_Zuko rolled his eyes at his uncle's pleading; what did he know of what was right for him to do? All his uncle tried to make him do was be lazy and teach him stupid things about the other elements, things that hadn't gotten him any closer to reclaiming his title and capturing the Avatar._

_"You don't understand, Uncle. You've never understood." he growled, "I need to do this, and I choose to do it. Don't think for a second that this is Azula's doing; she hasn't talked to me in nearly three years." he argued before his uncle had the opportunity to say otherwise._

_"P-Prince Zuko, I wasn't going to say anything about that. This quest, your idealisation of destiny- it has been forced upon you." he told him, the Prince shaking his head._

_"No. This isn't about the Avatar, this isn't about father, this is about me and Zhao." he declared, his uncle looking just as dismissively at him._

_"My nephew, this has everything to do with your quest for the Avatar. Would have you done this if you weren't so angry about your quest?" he asked him, the Prince not responding, not wanting to give his uncle the truth; he was right, but he was looking at his ordeal with a narrow eye- Zhao making him out as a coward, no matter how long ago, was a wrong that had to righted._

_"I have to to do this." he declared, the retired general sighing._

_"Did you still want that water?" he asked him, referring back to their previous conversation topic, that being him apologising for breaking the cup of water he had been given._

_"Y-yes..." he mumbled before looking his uncle in the eyes, "Thank you, Uncle." he gave his words of thanks, even if they were more of an apology._

_Iroh placed a hand on his knee before turning around to leave the room, "I'll always stand by you nephew."_

_He sighed as his uncle left the room, his head falling between his knees; Zuko knew he had to do something, even if his uncle didn't agree with him. Zhao was someone he had targeted in his mind, even if the Commander didn't really deserve to have an Agni Kai; the anger of an eleven year-old boy boiled up like a pot of noodles, and he wasn't going to ignore it. He wouldn't stand by, and let the eyes of his nation look down upon him; Zuko wanted to earn the respect of his father, and if he couldn't capture the Avatar, beating Zhao was at least an option to show his worth. He would win, not because he was the better firebender, but because he had to; what else could he do? He wasn't going to grovel and send letters to his sister, trying to get her to sway their father to rescind his banishment. He would regain his honour through honour; that was the way it had to be done, and that was the only thing that could keep him sane. If he went too far one way, he would tear himself about mentally; Prince Zuko wasn't just one person, there was someone else inside him, a part of himself that he repressed, and in his drunken rage, it had been released, if only for a moment. That child, the one his mother adored, and the one his sister and father despised, he was stuck screaming at him, telling him he was wasting his life on a stupid ship, on a stupid quest, ignoring his uncle's advice and not taking a stand against injustice._

_His uncle came back into his room with a cup of water, "Nephew, I've got you some water."_

_He walked over and handed the Prince the cup, which he accepted with a rather pained smile, trying to think positively and remain calm as his mind continued to gush at the seams._

_As he sipped from the cup, he decided he ought to speak his mind, "I'm sorry, Uncle. For getting angry at you."_

_"It's fine, nephew. You needed to let off some steam. If you want to fight Zhao, I will not stop you. That is your choice." he apologised in turn, the Prince's brow narrowing in thought._

_"Y-yeah, my choice." he mumbled, thinking back to what he had been considering; his choices had made him into the man he was, and he knew that choices were the only thing that could make him better. Was fighting Zhao the right choice? He didn't know, but Zuko understood that he couldn't just idle while the world moved around him; he needed to act, and he wanted to do it in the way he best knew how- with rage._

_"I want to channel my anger, my anguish, into that duel." he explained to his uncle, "I want to rid myself of this pain, and I don't know how else to do it."_

_"I understand, Zuko, I truly do." his uncle sighed, "When your cousin was killed, I didn't know how to express what I was feeling; so I left the field and travelled the world, trying to understand myself and it. When I came back to the Fire Nation, I was a better man; I most certainly broke protocol, and all the rules my father had laid out for me as Crown Prince, but I was better because of it."_

_"Do you want me to break the rules?" he asked him, the retired general shaking his head._

_"You shouldn't break the rules you believe in, nephew. But if something doesn't make sense to you, then it makes better sense to dispense with it." he explained, before sighing, "But do not believe yourself to be infallible." he warned, his eyes looking at his nephew with fear, "I once loved my brother, but I grew to fear him, because he thought just that, and it made him the man he is today."_

_"I think I understand, Uncle." he affirmed him, thinking that his advice was some of the most clear words he had told him in his years of banishment, "Or maybe it's just that I'm drunk. I can't tell."_

_"That is a fair point." his uncle chuckled, "But I am glad that you can see what I am trying to tell you. Your pain, however strong it holds your heart, shouldn't be there forever. You should try and find a way to fix it, and I think you can. I believe in you." he assured the banished prince, who sighed, dropping his head down._

_"At least you do."_

* * *

Azula smirked as the Dai Li dragged her through the Earth King's royal prison, knowing who she was being led to; her plan with Ty Lee blabbering had done its charm and she would soon find herself talking to the head of the Dai Li. She changed her expression to look more fearful, not wanting to give the impression that she already knew what was going on; when she arrived at the Grand Secretariat's cell, she started to move herself about, to give the image of frustration, when all she could really feel was ecstatic that her plan had actually worked. And if worse came to bear, she had back-up anyway; she wasn't stupid enough to actually leave herself at the mercy of the Dai Li.

"What is this about?" she accused him, "Your agents show up in the middle of the night and drag me down here?" she glanced at the Dai Li agents that were restraining her, "You will not treat a Kyoshi Warrior this way!"

"But you're not a Kyoshi Warrior, are you Princess Azula of the Fire Nation?" he stood up, asking her a clearly rhetorical question.

"What do you want?" she asked him, as if she didn't already know the offer that was going to come her way.

"I want to make a deal. It's time that I regain control fo Ba Sing Se and you have something I need."

She raised a brow in interest, "What do you want?"

"I want to make a deal. It's time that I regain control of Ba Sing Se and you have something I need." he declared, the Princess feigning surprise.

"Oh?"

He looked at her rather condescendingly as he continued, "The Earth King's trust."

"Why should I help you?" she simply asked him, knowing that it was a deal, not a demand.

"Because I can get you the Avatar." he declared, the Princess smirking.

"I'm listening." she confirmed, the Grand Secretariat raising his chest.

"I need someone to lead my organisation on the outside, ensure that there is no slip-ups in this operation. You are clearly of the right calibre to achieve that if you were able to fool your way into the palace." he explained to her, "Can you do that?" he asked her, the Princess shrugging.

"Well, I can, but I have some demands first." she curled her lips, making him snicker.

"You're not in a position to bargain." he chided her, Azula rolling her eyes.

"What is with people like you, just assuming that what is see is what you get..." she told him, the vagueness of the words making him tense up, "Have you ever heard of the Blue Spirit?" she asked him, before chuckling, "Of course you have, he sent a lightning bolt through your chest three days ago."

"Wh-what do you-" he began to question her, before suddenly the agents that were restraining her were knocked out almost instantaneously, "What is the meaning of this?"

"This is my enforcer, the Blue Spirit. You might remember that lightning bolt you took to the chest; he can to that, and much more. If you even think about betraying me, he will make sure that thought is your last." she warned, "One indication that you will renege on your deal, and you're done for."

Her brother leaned forward toward his face, the theatre mask looking exceptionally intimidating in the darkness, "Do you want to die?" he asked him in an exaggeratedly stoic and dark sounding voice; her brother wasn't just wearing a theatre mask, he might as well be part of a theatre trope.

"No. I will stay by my word, and you will stay by yours." he told the Princess, who crossed her arms.

"So, we have an understanding?" she questioned him, to which he nodded before sitting back down in his cell.

"I accede control of direct operations of the Dai Li to you, Princess Azula." the Princess smirking before turning her heels, stepping over the unconscious agents without a care in the world.

After she walked out, Zuko dragged the unconscious bodies of the Dai Li agents outside of the cell, before closing the door, "Greetings from Jet." he simply told him before he turned his heels to follow behind her.

"I think that went rather well brother, you play the tough stoic act quite well when no one can see you face." she gave him a backhanded compliment, the Prince looking as if he was rolling his eyes by the motion of his head.

"Thanks." he grumbled, following her along out of the prison.

"Also, who's Jet?" she asked, the Prince clearing his throat.

"Nobody important." he dismissed her question, "Just some idiot I had to save from that idiot."

She curled her lips at her brother, "Calling Long Feng an idiot is quite the statement brother." she suggested, the Prince shrugging his shoulders.

"He should have had you killed the moment he knew you were in the city." he acknowledged, "He's signed his own death sentence."

She looked at him with slight surprise, "I didn't think we were that similar, but you keep proving your worth. Father will have to rescind your banishment once we're done here." she conceded, the Prince's expressions hidden by his mask, but the upward tilt of his head indicated an air of confidence.

"I do not lie when I tell you I will stop at nothing, sister. This is just the beginning."

* * *

Ty Lee watched on in awe as Azula began her speech to the Dai Li, standing intimidatingly in front of them, her hands behind her back, as if she was ready to dish out a fire blast to any dissent.

"The Earth King and the Council of Five do not trust the Dai Li. They imprisoned your leader, Long Feng. Soon they will turn on all of you and eliminate you." she warned them, the fear on the faces of the agents visible, despite their attempts at looking as stoic as the rocks they bent, "Seizing power today is a matter of life and death. The Earth King and each of the five generals must be taken out simultaneously." she explained her plan succinctly, "Long Feng has placed you under my command while we overthrow the government." before she eyed a few of the agents, turning around and pacing the other direction, "If I sense any disloyalty, any hesitation, any weakness at all, I will snuff it out. That is all." she dismissed the Dai Li, who left at once, breaking formation as Azula approached her and Mai.

Ty Lee began to pour some tea for her, "Nice speech, Azula, It was pretty and poetic, but also scary in a good way." she complimented her, handing her cup of tea.

Mai chuckled, "Yeah, I thought you were going to make that one guy pee his pants."

Azula glanced at them both, "We still have the Avatar to deal with, do we not, brother?" she asked Zuko, who had been hidden from sight that entire time, without Ty Lee or Mai ever taking notice of him.

"Yes, we do." he acknowledged, wearing his intimidating and creepy Blue Spirit outfit.

"Wow, Zuko. That's a bit of an interesting look." she acknowledged, the Prince shrugging his shoulders.

"It conceals my identity. I don't want the Dai Li knowing who they're actually dealing with." he explained himself, "The Avatar already knows of this alter-ego, so once you take control of the Dai Li, it will be of little use."

"Did you reveal yourself during your stint under Lake Laogai?" his sister asked him, the Prince raising a hand to the side of his head.

"Yes. Only to ensure that he and his friends didn't go digging around for me. The only thing worse than your enemies knowing who you are, is if they come searching for you." he told them, Azula looking at her brother with slight suspicion before turning her heels.

"Never mind that, we should be worried about predicting the Avatar's movements. He can't prevent our coup, but I believe he would likely go after Katara over the Earth King." she explained, Ty Lee raising a brow in interest.

"So they'll head for the catacombs?" she asked the Princess, who chuckled.

"That's if the Dai Li rat out some intelligence, which would disappoint me greatly- but if they do, it's the most advantageous place to face them with an army of earthbenders on our back." she strategised, Ty Lee looking to herself, Mai and then to Zuko.

"So what are we going to do?" she asked, the Princess curling her lips.

"The coup is our foremost priority. How else can I achieve my childhood dreams?"

"That's an unusual childhood dream, Azula." Mai acknowledged, "So we're going to manhandle the Earth King?"

"Oh, well, I don't expect him to put up much of a fight." she conceded, "But we can never be too careful. If the Avatar's group come and intervene, there might be a problem; if the Earth Kingdom Army realises what's going on, my plans will become a lot more complicated- unnecessarily so." Azula explained the potential fallout of them not acting, seeing that they already had the initiative.

"So what are we waiting for?" Ty Lee asked the Princess, who drank down her cup of tea swiftly, before placing the cup on the table.

"We aren't. Let's go." she ordered the group, her two friends quickly following behind her as she walked on toward the exit of the large hall she had been addressing the Dai Li; the acrobat glanced back, noticing that Zuko was pouring himself a cup of tea, pulling his mask up to his nose so he sip from it.

Before she could indicate to the Princess that her brother wasn't following, she dismissed her, "Don't worry. Zuko will catch up, I'm sure of it."

The acrobat nodded, feeling somewhat intimidated by her prediction, following alongside Mai as they made their way through a doorway at the end of the hall, leading them to a small corridor that led up to a staircase.

As they arrived at the base of the stairwell, Azula turned to face the two of them, "Ty Lee, Mai. I expect you play the part, protecting the Earth King until we get the signal that the Council of Five has been dealt with; after that, we will capture him and ensure that he doesn't make any issues. Got it?" she asked them, the two girls glancing to each other before curtly nodding in confirmation.

"Yep. Can we go now? I'm sure the Earth King is going to be waiting for us." Mai asked her in her usual apathetic and stoic tone; the Princess stepped out of the way, walking up the stairs, before Ty Lee turned to face Azula, feeling uncertain as to what role Zuko would play in their overthrow of the Earth Kingdom government.

"So... just curious, what is Zuko going to be doing?" she asked, the Princess's golden eyes narrowing at her, making the acrobat feel like she had to justify herself, "I'm just assuming that he's not going to be drinking tea while we do all the work."

"He won't. He's our hidden Pai Sho tile." she metaphorically described his role, "My brother is someone who can strike fear into the hearts of the Dai Li. Long Feng already knows the Blue Spirit is here, waiting for him to slip up." she curled her lips, "He'll be making sure there's nothing fishy going on with the Dai Li."

"This plan sounds like it's flawless." she complimented the Princess, who flicked her bangs, smiling confidently.

"Oh, it's more than flawless. This plan ensures that no matter what, we win."

* * *

"Momo!"

Sokka glanced about their house, realising that Aang was right; there was no one in there except for Momo, who seemed rather distressed himself. Toph seemed to be looking about the house with her seismic sense and a moment later turned to them.

"There's no one else here." she concluded, the Avatar taking her words as evidence to his fears.

"Katara is in trouble! I knew it!" he exclaimed, Sokka's eyes widening, as his mind crossed the potentials.

"Oh no." he gasped in fear, before a moment later, Toph twitched, pointing to the door behind him.

"Someone's at the door." she told them, before her eyes widened, her face brightening, "Wait a minute, I know who it is." she told them, walking over to the door before opening it, revealing Iroh, who was standing in front of the door, his face in grimace.

"I need your help." he asked them, the Water Tribe teen looking to Aang before turning back to face the man who was once Crown Prince of the Fire Nation.

"Wait a minute, does this have something to do with Katara?" he asked him, to which he nodded.

"May I come in?" he asked them, Sokka and Toph stepping out of his way in confirmation, before he walked into their house, turning to face them.

"Katara came to my tea-shop, the Jasmine Dragon, yesterday evening. She talked with Zuko, and told him about the Kyoshi Warriors arriving in Ba Sing Se." he explained, Sokka nodding along.

"Ah yeah, Suki and all. They got here as Aang and I were leaving." he acknowledged, the retired general looking at them all with fear as he continued.

"Katara and Zuko went to the palace, and my nephew never returned. And I heard your conversation, and I believe that there is something terribly wrong going on." he furthered, Aang nodding, stepping toward him with a face of confidence.

"We can work together to find them both. All of Ba Sing Se might be trouble- after Long Feng, we can't be too careful when it comes to this kind of stuff." he suggested, the Water Tribe teen grasping his friends shoulder.

"I agree. And actually, wouldn't the Dai Li make sense as the people who are messing with us. Zuko did zap Long Feng, after all." he suggested, Iroh's eyes widening.

"W-wait... sorry. Did you say my nephew 'zapped' Long Feng?" he asked, the trio grimacing in realising what had occurred.

"Zuko didn't tell you?" Aang asked him, the retired general shaking his head.

"No. Zuko didn't say anything. He told me he was going to help Jet with something. I didn't think that it had to do with your missing sky-bison." he acknowledged, before looking rather sad, "Perhaps I trusted my nephew a little too much. He does tend to keep secrets."

"What are we going to do now?" Toph asked them, Aang pointing to the door.

"We're going to find the Kyoshi Warriors, and try and find out what's going on." he declared, the group all nodding before they paced out of the house, even Iroh keeping up speed as they raced for Appa, climbing up his back; the old Fire Nation general looked up at the beast with awe, and Sokka offered a hand.

"Climb on up! Don't worry, Appa won't bite." he promised him, after which he grasped his hand, climbing up the sky-bison's side onto his back.

"Yip-yip!" Aang called on the sky-bison, which immediately launched up into the air; Toph grasped his arm tightly, while Iroh furrowed his arms into the fur on Appa's back.

"Ahhhhh!" the retired general shouted out, as they flew at speed toward the palace, which quickly approached them, the Water Tribe teen eyeing the main building that housed the throne room.

Although it took a little while for them to arrive, soon enough Appa was groaning as he approached the ground, landing on all six feet and growling; as the group got off of his back, they all noticed him about rather angrily.

"What is it, boy?" Aang asked him, the sky-bison grunting, huffing air out of his nose before whacking his tail into a pole; suddenly a Dai Li agent fell from the pole down onto the ground, Toph using her earthbending to catch and entrap the agent.

"Oh, I guessed right." Sokka curled his lips, the Avatar approaching the agent with a steely glare.

"What's going on? Where's Katara?" he demanded, the agent grimacing as he tried to wriggle free.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not telling you anything." the agent growled, the group looking at each other for a moment, all silently considering what to do; the young earthbender tensed her hands and pulled him into the stone below, making him yelp in fear as the Water Tribe teen snickered, seeing what was happening.

"If you don't want to drown in rock, I recommend you tell us the truth." Sokka raised a finger suggestively, the agent gulping before deciding speak straight.

"Long Feng..." he mumbled, his eyes darting about before he sighed, "and Princess Azula are about to overthrow the Earth King."

"What?!" Iroh exclaimed in fear, everyone else just as shocked by the revelation, "This means... oh no." he mumbled, his expression marked with utter dread, "We need to find Katara and Zuko. Where are they?" he asked the agent, who gulped, "They're in the Crystal Catacombs, under the palace."

"We should split up." Sokka suggested, "Aang, you and Iroh should go look for Zuko and Katara in these Crystal Catacombs, while Toph and I alert the Earth King and the Council of Five." he suggested, the group all nodding along, Toph moving her feet about to sense under them.

"Yep, there's something under here. It's deep, but it's there." she confirmed, "Go on Twinkletoes! Go get Sugar Queen and Sparky."

"Sparky? That's his nickname?" Sokka jested, the earthbender shrugging her shoulders.

"Hey don't you complain. You're lucky you don't have one... yet." she warned him, Sokka raising his hands defensively.

"Okay, okay. Let's go warn the Earth King!" he proclaimed, racing off with her, away from Aang and Iroh, who were already entering a hole that the Avatar was bending under the palace.

The duo raced forward to the main doors of the palace, the Royal Earthbender Guards opening the doors for them immediately, before they raced on down the hallway; Sokka's heart was beating like a drum, unsure how everything would turn out. The worst case scenario was something he couldn't believe; that the Fire Nation would conquer Ba Sing Se and the war would be lost, bar the existence of the Northern Water Tribe.

"I can sense the Earth King and Bosco in the throne room." Toph told him, making him glance her way.

"That's good news- the Dai Li haven't gotten to them yet." he smiled, his pace unwavering as they approached the second set of doors, leading into the throne room proper.

As the next set of doors were opened, the Water Tribe teen made sight of the Earth King, who was flanked by his bear and two of the Kyoshi warriors; he sighed with relief, realising that they still had time to warn the Earth King.

When he arrived at the throne, he exclaimed, realising they were fast enough to prevent the coup, "Thank goodness, we're in time!"

"In time for what?" the Earth King asked him, concerned and curious in his tone.

Suddenly, one of the Kyoshi Warriors glanced his way, "Yeah. What are you in time for," before she cartwheeled his way, "cutie?" she asked him with a wide smile, making his face flush with embarassment.

"Oh, uh... do I know you?" he asked the warrior, off put by her the flirtatious looks he was getting; he didn't really know any of the warriors, and if anything he was closest to Suki, who was in a relationship with Zuko.

"Well, of course. We're the Kyoshi Warriors." she declared, Toph moving her hand in a swift motion, throwing the warrior off of her feet with a pillar of earth, before she flipped in mid-air, landing on her feet; he had only seen one person do that kind of move before, and she most certainly wasn't a Kyoshi Warrior.

"They're not the real Kyoshi Warriors!" she exclaimed, Sokka's eyes widening.

"Argh! Acrobat girl!" he pointed, realising who she was; the other 'Kyoshi Warrior' rolling her eyes.

"Sorry to disappoint you." she told them with a tone of indiscernible sarcasm, before she threw a number of daggers at Toph, who dodged the attack with a wall of earth, which she threw at the girl, who was able to jump right over it.

When the acrobat raced at him, she tried to jab him to chi-block him; he was fast enough to dodge the attacks, already having dealt with her before.

She beamed at him, curling her lips, "Oooh, it's like we're dancing together!"

Sokka cringed internally, continuing to dodge the jabs coming his way, before he stopped, hearing a familiar voice.

"This fight is over." Azula declared, holding the Earth King by flame-point; the Water Tribe teen threw down his weapon and groaned with frustration.

"Aw, come on!" he shouted out, the Princess's eyes narrowing at him, "Why is always you?"

She curled her lips, "Because you idiots attract all the attention in the world." she declared proudly, before the acrobat girl he had been fighting struck him down with chi-blocking; he glanced over to Toph, who had been chi-blocked as well, sighing as Dai Li agents appeared, capturing Momo who had been following them.

Looking forward he saw the princess shoving the Earth King from his throne, making him snicker; it was a literal overthrow of the Earth King, it seemed. She didn't seem to share in the humour of the situation, glaring at her new captives intently.

"Get them all out of my sight."

* * *

Standing behind the Earth King's throne, Zuko snickered, having listened in to the dialogue between Sokka and his sister; he was certain the two of them had some kind of thing, however one would describe it. His feelings of humour were dampened when he heard another familiar voice enter the throne room a few moments after the Avatar's companions were dragged away by the Dai Li.

"Now comes the part where I double cross you. Dai Li, arrest the Fire Nation princess!" Long Feng declared, no responses coming out of the Dai Li; Zuko didn't hear anyone move or say anything, and the Grand Secretariat spoke once more, more aggravated in his tone, "I said arrest her! What is wrong with you?!" he asked his men.

"It's because they haven't made up their minds. They're waiting to see how this is going to end." Azula suggested, to which he responded with a louder more angry tone.

"Well, I know the Blue Spirit isn't coming to help you strong-arm me!" he declared, "I was told he was still down in our headquarters under the palace."

Azula chuckled, "Oh, is that what you heard? Did you think the Blue Spirit wouldn't find someone to use as a body double." she suggested; the words she spoke were half true- he had picked up a training dummy from the Dai Li's barracks, dressing it in an outfit like his own, to fool the Dai li into believing he was just drinking tea.

"Wh-what?" he growled, "What do you mean?" he demanded an answer from her, Zuko stepping out from behind the throne, approaching the Grand Secretariat with his mask giving off a maniac grin; the face that Long Feng made indicated that he was more than afraid.

"Please, mercy! You can't take this city if you kill me!" he pleaded, the Fire Nation Prince kicking him in the shins, forcing him to the ground, before he leaned over to his face.

"I don't care about taking your shitty city." he declared, "I don't have a care in the world about any of this politics. We're here for the Avatar; if you want to stand in the way of that, you will die." he growled, hoping that his threats would force him to surrender; seeing that he didn't respond, he moved his mask closer to the Grand Secretariat's own face, "So, what do you prefer, decapitation or being burnt alive?" he asked him with a dark tone in clear imitation of his sister; Zuko didn't intend to actually kill the man, but he knew that the words would ring true to his paranoid ears.

"F-fine. You win, Prince Zuko." he fell down to his knees, surrendering, making him chuckle, throwing off his Blue Spirit mask; however Long Feng had figured out his identity, it didn't matter anymore- they had won, "You've beaten me at my own game." he turned his eyes up to Azula, who looked at him with disgust.

"Don't flatter yourself! You were never even a player." she declared, before pointing to the Dai Li, "Take him away." she demanded, the agents following her orders and chaining him, dragging him away from the throne room.

"Oh, so does that mean the Dai Li is mine now?" he smirked at his sister, who rolled her eyes.

"No, brother. They're ours." she declared with a proud smile, placing her hands on her hips, "Let's get the Avatar."

"Where will he be?" he asked her, the Princess raising a finger to her chin.

"If Sokka and the blind girl came for the Earth King, then the Avatar went for his little Water Tribe girlfriend. She's locked away in the Crystal Catacombs, under this very palace." she curled her lips, the Prince looking stoically back at his sister as she turned to face the remaining agents in the room, "Dai Li! I want an army of agents holding those catacombs- the Avatar will not escape our grasp!" she demanded, before turning to Ty Lee and Mai, "Ty Lee, Mai. I can trust you to hold down the fort. Just make sure if the Avatar's friends try to escape, they don't."

"You can count on us." the acrobat beamed, the stoic girl shrugging, before looking to the Earth King's pet bear.

"So we're taking care of the bear?" she asked, the Princess raising a brow before shrugging, waving off her concerns.

"A bear isn't that big of a deal, is it?" she asked, not getting a response from her; she stepped down from the throne, looking at "Well, come on, Zuzu. We've got to tie up some loose ends." she prodded him, the Prince following behind his sister as she led him toward the staircase they had taken up from the Dai Li's headquarters; it was hidden behind a wall, but the agents had left it open for them to access.

"Brother, I must say, you did quite well there. Suggesting how you would execute Long Feng... that was utterly brilliant. I've got to use that some time." she acknowledged the merits of his tactics, making him curl his lips; although he'd prefer his sister to compliment him for other things, he could take the words she said as genuine, at the very least.

"Yeah, well, thanks for not just getting all Ty Lee with Sokka." he told her in return, the Princess's eyes widening as her cheeks flushed red.

"I don't know what you're talking about." she dismissed his words, the Prince raising his hands.

"Hey, hey, I talked to him earlier this week. He's definitely got a thing for you, and from the sounds of it, you do to." he suggested, the Princess creating a blowtorch with her fingers.

"Do you want another scar, brother?" she asked him rhetorically, Zuko chuckling at her reaction.

"Hey, I'm just going off the evidence I have. Do you have anything to say to the contrary?" he asked her, the Princess glaring him down with spiteful eyes.

"I don't have time for snow peasants, Zuzu. Actually, I was going to make the same joke about you with his sister." she curled her lips, making him laugh out loud.

"Yeah, that's a bit of a stretch." he dismissed her idea, knowing that he only had eyes for one woman, "I do like a girl. You were wearing her clothes yesterday." he derided her, the Princess looking at him for a moment.

"Brother, about your relationship... you do know it can't continue if you return home, don't you?" she asked him as they continued to wind down the staircase.

"I know that I can't have a relationship if she's in a Fire Nation prison." he acknowledged, knowing that he didn't want to explain anything further; his plans were secret for a reason- no one, not even his uncle, knew what he was going to do.

"Good, I don't want you getting foolish on me, Zuzu. You're a prince, not a peasant."

* * *

Katara raised her head from her knees, hearing what sounded like an explosion rocking the cavern she had been stuck in; looking up she saw Aang, who was surprisingly being accompanied by Iroh. Her eyes widened, realising that he must be looking for Zuko. She raced up toward the Avatar, her eyes brightening, knowing that she was right to not give up hope.

"Aang!" she exclaimed, hugging him tightly; when she released, she smiled at him, thankful that he came to get her, "Aang, I knew that you would come."

Iroh looked at her, and then around the cavern, "Where's my nephew? I thought he would be locked down here with you." he asked her, the Water Tribe girl's eyes widening, thinking fearfully what his sister might have done to him.

"Oh, spirits. I don't know what Azula did with him, but I'm guessing it wouldn't be good. We both tried to fight them, but Ty Lee knocked me out with her chi-blocking." she explained, the former Crown Prince of the Fire Nation nodding, before looking toward the hole they had made to enter the cavern.

"We should leave at once. My niece will be coming for you both." he stressed, Aang placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, Iroh. We can find Zuko once we get out of here." he assured him, the trio walking up through the hole Aang had carved with earthbending.

Pacing along the dark and foreboding tunnel, Katara looked to her friend with a grimace, "What's going on Aang? Why is Azula here in Ba Sing Se?" she asked, the Avatar looking back with a fearful face.

"She's using the Dai Li to overthrow the Earth King! We need to get back to the palace and stop her before she lets the Fire Nation into the city." he explained, his pace increasing as he used his airbending to race through the tunnel, she jogged behind, with Iroh struggling to keep up pace.

When she reached the top, she looked around in awe at the ruins that surrounded her, as well as the crystals that gave the large cavern a greenish hue, "Wow." she mumbled under her breath, before turning to Aang, "We've got to find Sokka and Toph."

He nodded, before turning his head, hearing something; he raised up a wall of stone, which blocked a powerful blue fireball; as the wall crumbled, their eyes turned to look at Azula, who stood above them, standing triumphantly; the confidence she exuded gave Katara the chills, electing to try and ignore it, racing forward as she bent the water from the pool beside them and threw it up at the Princess. The waterbender thought that her wave was strong enough to knock her back, but to her shock, she simply vaporised the water into a cloud of steam, which shrouded her location. A moment later she jumped through the steam, sending a volley of fireballs in their direction; Aang and Katara both moved in harmony, using a stream of water to block the attack. The Princess stood in front of them, ready to attack, her hands pointed at them, ready to blast, when she was suddenly struck by a powerful fire blast from behind jumping forward to avoid getting burnt; when the flames cleared, the two friends cheered at the sight of Iroh, who had taken a firebending form, quickly sending volleys of flames at her; the Princess was able to jump out of the way, using jets of fire to launch herself up onto the side of a stone pillar. Aang hammered his hands down, sending a shock-wave through the pillar, which began to crumble; she jumped into the air, and Katara bent out two water whips to grab her, but failed as the Princess cut through them with her own whips of fire. She landed awkwardly on the ground some distance away from her three opponents, rolling before taking a stance.

"Azula, you cannot win!" Iroh declared, trying to warn his niece that fighting would only end badly for her; Katara agreed, and quickly sent forth a wave of water, flowing to grab Azula's feet.

The Princess flared her teeth, "You're wrong, Uncle." she declared, before jumping into the air, her spinning motion forming a cartwheel of flames, striking the waterbender off of her feet and into the pool of water behind her.

She yelped as she tried to reorient herself; pulling her head out of the water, her hair fell out of it's braid, Katara trying to focus on her opponent, who was quickly moving to attack her friends. Bending the water around her to form tentacles of water, watching with fear as Aang and Iroh both tried to counter her rapid and vicious bolts of blue fire; she used one of her tentacles to grasp the Princess's ankle knocking her off of her feet, before she was ensnared by the Avatar's quick use of earthbending; he approached her with his hands ready to bend all the elements available, ready to take whatever else she had up her sleeves.

"It's over, Azula!" he declared, Azula rolling her eyes dismissively.

"No it isn't. You're all idiots- you've all been focusing on me." she chided them, suddenly finding herself released from her trap of stone, as a number of Dai Li Agents landed down beside her, "Dai Li! Destroy them!" she order them, the waterbender reflexively grabbing the pool of water behind her, throwing powerful jets of water at the Dai Li, who were thrown off their feet, some of them using their bending to get out of the way.

She threw her energy into each jet of water, keeping some of the agents at bay; her eyes darted around, trying to find Azula, who she saw in the corner of her eye. Turning around she threw a tentacle in her direction, grabbing one of her arms. The Princess flared her teeth, sending a kick of flames at Katara, forcing her to use her other hand to bend a shield of water in front of her. The defence worked, but she realised a moment later than she had let go of the Princess, who jumped forward sending two fire whips down on her. Suddenly, the fire whips were cut away, Aang standing behind her with his staff, before he sent out a powerful tornado like gust of wind, throwing Azula back into the water behind her. He turned around to face the Dai Li, sending pillars of earth up to knock them back while they sent rock gloves in return; Katara's quick slices of water ensured that they didn't get hit. The Avatar looked up above them, before raising his hand; she looked up, realising that there was a large stalactite on the roof. Within a moment, he bent it loose from the roof, thrusting it down toward the ground between him and their enemies; the explosion threw him off his feet, Katara's eyes widening with fear.

"Aang!" she exclaimed, racing over to assist him while Iroh used his fire breath to ward off the Dai Li; the young airbender groaned, before pulling a confident smile.

"I can still fight." he assured her, standing up, breathing in and out slowly as if he was meditating, before sending a gust of wind to knock all of the Dai Li agents backward.

Both of their heads turned to Azula, who was standing in the pool of water in front of them; before Katara could use the water to trap her, the Princess vapourised it once more, making a cloud of steam that obscured her position. Iroh made a cutting wave of fire, which dispersed the steam and revealed his niece, jumping above their head, sending a kick of flames right down on top of Aang, who bent a slab of rock up to shield him; he threw the shield back at their opponent, which she kicked off of before landing on her feet, her hair now messy and out of place as she huffed, looking at them with determination, ignoring the badly beaten Dai Li agents that surrounded her. She took a stance, her hands pointed toward both Katara and Iroh at the same time, and they did the same in return, ready to take whatever she had up her sleeve.

Suddenly, Katara's field of vision was blinded by a white flash, and a moment later a banging noise, as she heard Aang scream out, being flung back into the water behind them; her eyes widened, looking at Azula, who hadn't moved a muscle, and was just as shocked as they were. The waterbender's eyes darted upward, realising the source of the bolt of lightning; Zuko stood above them on the ruin of a house, looking down at them with a stoic and determined face. She had no idea why he had just attacked Aang, and she didn't want to know; all she felt was utter shock and fear- what if she was next?

She screamed out in horror, "Aang!" racing over toward his fallen body, using the tentacles she had still to throw Azula back, lest she try to attack her again.

Iroh stood in front of her, stopping his niece from attacking her with her blue flames, using his own bending to force her back; Katara raced over to her friends side, looking at his unconscious body in the water; she bent some water into her hands, quickly trying to tend to the injury that had been inflicted upon him.

"Aang! Please be okay." she pleaded, realising she bent the water over his body, that his injuries weren't actually as bad as she'd first expected, just a burn where the bolt had struck him, square in the gut; tears falling down her face, she made a small smile, realising that not all hope was lost.

Iroh glanced back her way, his eyes widened with fear, "You've got to get out of here! I'll hold them off as long as I can!" he exclaimed, Katara lifting Aang up before wading over to the waterfall, bending the water to raise them up.

As she looked back down at the man who was sacrificing him to help them, she felt saddened, realising that it was Zuko, the one he had been so intent to save, was the one who had caused their defeat. It was tragic, and it made her sadness stronger; even if the boy in her arms was safe, the Earth Kingdom had just fallen to the Princess of the Fire Nation, and it seemed that her brother had rejoined her, as if to ignore any bond he held with them. She wondered for a moment what the Kyoshi Warriors might have thought if they saw him, and what he did, but her mind was soon turned to focusing on Aang, who began to move consciously, the pain visible in how he contorted his face. He groaned in pain, before he opened his eyes, looking up at her, his eyes showing his uncertainty and fear unimpeded by any kind of inflated confidence.

"Wh-what just happened?" he asked her with a trembling voice, realising that they weren't in the cavern anymore; she sighed, looking up as they continued to rise up the waterfall, nearing the surface.

"Zuko happened."


	40. Unclear Motivations

_Focusing on the constant inward and outward flow of his breath, as he sat in the darkness of his bedroom, Prince Zuko let his mind rest; his uncle had assured him that meditation would help him relax and return to focusing on his mission with a clear mind. He didn't want any distractions to ruin his mindset, so he knew meditation would be useful in clearing his mind of any needless thoughts. He imagined his breathing like the water lapping up against the side of his ship, which he could faintly hear in the distance; as he breathed in, his candles dimmed, the reverse occurring as he breathed out. Only seeing darkness with his eyes closed, he let his mind wander, no images appearing in his mind other than what he imagined a candle would look like as it moved with the flow of his breath; he kept his breathing slow and steady, making sure he breathed in as deeply as possible before expelling all the air through his nose. The image of the candle reminded him of when he had first started bending, and he had been ordered by his instructors to do that very thing, breath in and out, connecting his breath with the flame of a candle; it was a very simple form of bending, perhaps the most simple, as he could make the candles move without even thinking about it, a kind of reflex he had built up from spending so much time training to control fire. When he felt like he had cleared his mind of all thought, he rose to his feet, still making a concerted effort to breathe in and out, focusing on the candle in his mind; he opened his eyes, looking at a small wisp of flames formed in his right hand, the flames moving with his breath like the candle in his mind. He curled his lips, knowing that he was one with his bending; once one had absolute control of fire, one could do anything with it._

_He let the fire go in his hand, before turning around, deciding he ought to go to do something other than spend his day sitting in his room; training with his uncle would be the most productive use of his time, seeing that they had recently had few leads on the Avatar or anything associated with the Air Nomads that might help him track down and defeat the master of the elements. Zuko walked over to his door, before opening it, glancing out into the hallway; there were no crew members about at that moment, and he quickly paced his way down the narrow metal hallway toward the exit that would lead him out onto the deck. Reaching the outer door, he pulled on the handle before pushing the heavy door open, looking out onto the deck of his ship; it was only early morning, and the sky was covered in clouds, looking like it might begin to rain at any moment; looking about, he realised that his uncle wasn't sitting about on the deck as he usually would._

_The Prince turned to face few crewmen who were idling about on the deck, "Has anyone seen my uncle? I need to speak with him." he asked the men, whose eyes widened as they tried to make themselves look more orderly; he rolled his eyes at their reaction before stepping closer, "Has anyone?" he asked once more, one of the men clearing his throat._

_"General Iroh's on the bridge. He's been besting the crew at Pai Sho... again." he explained, making Zuko snicker, before nodding._

_"Thanks." he simply addressed the crewman, glancing at him and his comrades, "Good luck... with whatever you're doing." he acknowledged with a mildly suspicious tone, the crewmen looking at him with uneasy faces; he turned his heels, not feeling in the mood to chide anyone for not working- that would be hypocritical of him, after spending most of the time since breakfast locked away in his room meditating._

_Walking back into the brig, he followed back down the narrow hallway, before arriving at the stairwell, which he climbed at a fast pace; after doing all his breathing exercises, he was more than capable of racing up a few flights of stairs. Soon enough he reached the top of the bridge, walking from the stairwell to arrive in the bridge, which was bright and open with windows on all sides. In the middle sat his uncle with a cup of tea, sitting by his Pai Sho board with none of the crew currently facing him._

_"Oh, nephew." Iroh's face lit up, "Have you come to enjoy a game of Pai Sho?" he asked, the Prince shaking his head, but sitting down across the Pai Sho table from him nonetheless._

_"No, Uncle. I wanted to do some more firebending training, to improve on my sets." he explained himself, the retired general nodding, raising his teapot._

_"Do you have time for a cup of calming jasmine tea?" he asked, the Prince raising a brow at him._

_"You're not going to train me if I don't drink it, are you?" he asked his uncle, who chuckled, patting his belly._

_"Well, you never know. Perhaps tea will help you focus. It is good for the mind and soul." he assured him, Zuko snickering at his uncle's claim._

_"Well, I just spent a good hour meditating. I'm as calm I could possibly get." he assured him, still raising his pot up and offering out a cup._

_"So... how warm do you want your tea?" he asked him, the Prince sighing, actually taking a moment to consider how he liked his tea, something that made him cringe internally._

_"Hot, but not scalding." he decided, "I don't want to burn my throat."_

_"Yes, you're not a waterbender, my nephew." he acknowledged with a little laugh, before pouring him a cup, quickly handing it over._

_Zuko sipped from the cup for a moment, before his eyes turned up to face his uncle, "So, where do we go next, Uncle? We've already visited all of the Air Temples, and we've circumnavigated the entire coast of the Earth Kingdom." he acknowledged, realising midsentence that he had spent a lot of time travelling the world already, with no real evidence of any Avatar._

_"I don't know, nephew. That is up for you to decide. I doubt we can go to a place like the Northern Water Tribe, or of course, back to the Fire Nation proper, but the rest of the world, we could search it all." he acknowledged, "But is that what you want to do?"_

_"No, Uncle." he admitted, "I don't want to waste my time looking everywhere. What I need is hard evidence of the Avatar, and once I have that, I can track him down, wherever he's been hiding."_

_"That may take some time to find." the retired general acknowledged, his nephew sipping from his cup of tea once more before shaking his head._

_"Then it will. I have to return home, Uncle. Whatever it takes."_

* * *

The bright flash of light and thundering boom caught Iroh off guard, immediately eyeing his niece after watching Aang be flung back into the water by a bolt of lightning; it took him a few moments to realise, but Azula was just as shocked by the turn of events as he was, and the retired general looked up to see someone he wasn't expecting. Zuko stood above them, standing in a firebending form, a steely glare on his face; his jaw dropped, looking up at his nephew with utter despair. He had just shot the Avatar with a bolt of lightning. He had been talking to him a day earlier about how he was going to go find Suki, and a number of times prior to that, he had expressed his desire to change the Fire Nation for the better; all of that seemed to contradict what he just saw occur. Azula smirked at him, before sending a powerful stream of blue flames toward Katara, who was trying to help the Avatar, who lay behind him unconscious; Iroh deflected her stream, dividing it in two before sending the flames back at her, the blast shocking her off of her feet.

"Aang! Please be okay." he heard the Water Tribe teen plead, holding the Avatar in her arms; the retired general turned back to face his niece, realising that she wouldn't give up until she had the Avatar.

He sent a number fire balls in her direction, forcing her to use her bending to disperse the blasts rather than attack, giving Katara ample time to heal the Avatar and escape the already lost battle; his nephews turn had assured that they would lose, as it would only be a matter of time before he came down to face him, and the Dai Li ensnared his allies.

He glanced back at them with fear, "You've got to get out of here! I'll hold them off as long as I can!" he exclaimed, the Water Tribe girl taking Aang in her arms, wading up to the waterfall that fed the pool, bending it to raise them both upward.

Turning back to face his niece, he sent a stream of fire her way, the Princess bending his own stream in two before sending a kick of flames, knocking him back; he flared his teeth, noticing a number of Dai Li agents coming to surround him. Iroh threw a number of fireballs at his opponents, who were pushed back and yelped out in pain from the accurate and intense bolts of fire. Suddenly however, he found himself ensnared in a crystal tomb, shouting out in pain as the rocks held him tightly, the retired general breathing out flames to intimidate the agents.

His niece approached him, shaking her head with disappointment, "Uncle... I doubted you were capable of this level of treachery. To help the Avatar so explicitly, is against everything our family stands for." she chided him, before Iroh heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Azula, that's a little hypocritical of you to say." Zuko conversely told her, "You helped the Avatar escape from Zhao, not that it matters. I'm glad you did that, though for different reasons than Uncle might presume."

Looking at his nephew, his eyes widened with fear, "Zuko, do you know what you just did?" the retired general asked him, genuinely concerned that his nephew had lost his mind.

His eyes were dark and serious, "I know exactly what I did, Uncle. Do you know what you did?" he asked him, Iroh sighing, averting his eyes from his nephew's stare; more than anything, the confidence in his voice scared him.

His tone indicated that his nephew didn't have a shred of doubt in his actions; it was as if shooting the Avatar with lightning was premeditated, that it was always his plan- as if he had orchestrated everything so he could defeat Aang.

"Brother. I didn't think you had it in you." she placed a hand on Zuko's shoulder, the Prince flinching and looking away from both of them.

"You don't know what I'm capable of." he declared, "What did I tell you, Azula?"

"That you would stop at nothing. That you would attain victory by any means necessary." she reiterated what Iroh presumed was a paraphrasing of what his nephew had told her; he still didn't understand what had just happened- it made no sense, "Take our uncle away, Dai Li. I'll want him ready for transportation to the Fire Nation." she stressed, Zuko looking her way with interest.

"We're going home?" he asked her, Azula placing her hands on her hips.

"You've killed the Avatar. You will return home the Prince you were always meant to be." she declared, his nephew curling his lips, before looking back at him, which to his utter shock, looked actually happy with himself.

"I have regained my honour." he declared, before he subtly made a movement with his mouth, speaking without a sound; Iroh immediately made out the word, trembling as he understood his nephew's intent- 'Suki'.

"And I have my brother back... no thanks to you, old man." she chided Iroh, before indicating the Dai Li to take him away, moving him along in his crystal cage away from his nephew.

The former Crown Prince of the Fire Nation was utterly confused; he knew that his nephew had some kind of noble intention. Mouthing the name of the girl he loved didn't make any sense unless she had something to do with his actions; what she had to do with Zuko returning to his position as Crown Prince, he couldn't comprehend at all. Seeing what he had just done to the Avatar made him think for a moment that his nephew had truly decided that he wanted to take the path of Ozai, and not care for others, and only for his own power; despite his actions, that nightmarish vision of his nephew contradicted with the love he held. He wanted to say that his nephew had lost his way, but he knew it would be a lie to say he was misguided by love; he was driven by love, and that was what made Iroh sigh with relief as the Dai Li dragged him away. Even if he had lost his freedom, Zuko had gained his own, even if the path he was shaping was not the one he had wanted for him.

* * *

Looking out over the city of Ba Sing Se, Sokka felt a sense of dread, knowing that they had lost their fight against Azula sorely; they couldn't beat the Dai Li themselves, and with Aang out of action, he knew that the Avatar wouldn't come around once more to save a place from conquest by the Fire Nation. The Avatar was lying in his sister's arms, conscious but in pain as she tended to the injury that was supposedly caused by Zuko sending a lightning bolt through his chest; the injury seemed bad, but Aang assured them that he didn't feel that as painful as it might have looked, citing the last time they had fought Azula as being far more painful, after she nearly beat him on top of the drill that was going through Ba Sing Se's Outer Wall.

"Aang, you need to stay still." he heard Katara demand, "You're going to make it hurt more." she stressed, the Avatar looking up over the city with a sad grimace.

"B-but... they're going to win. The Fire Nation is going to take over Ba Sing Se." he told them, Sokka sighing as he looked to the Earth King, who was just as saddened as the Avatar.

"Aang... you're right. The Earth Kingdom... has fallen." the Earth King sighed, looking out to his city as they quickly sped away, crossing the Inner Wall and finding themselves flying over the Agricultural Zone.

"Where do we go now?" Toph asked him, the Water Tribe teen's eyes widening, realising all eyes except Aang's were on him.

"Uh- you're asking me where we're going to go?" he asked, genuinely confused why he was the one who had to decide.

"You are the plan guy." the earthbender noted, grasping hold of his arm, "You're the one who's best to think where we go next, seeing that Twinkletoes is out of commission and... well, Sugar Queen's a mess." she acknowledged, earning a glare from Katara.

"I'm perfectly fine." she flared her teeth in frustration, Sokka shaking his head at his sister.

"No, Katara. You're in shock. After seeing what happened to Aang, I'd be more concerned if you weren't." he admitted, before looking out ahead of them, thinking about where they could go, so Aang could recuperate and they could figure out what to do next.

"That was his firebending master, wasn't it?" he asked, earning a nod from his sister, who looked down at the Avatar.

"He saved us, but now he's imprisoned by Azula. We have no one to train Aang in firebending... other than Jeong Jeong." she admitted, making him scoff, thinking about their experience with the ratty old firebender.

"Yeah, I don't think we're going to run into him again." he admitted, before looking back to his sister, "I think we should try and find Dad. He and the other warriors can help us, and at the very least, they'll give us somewhere to stay for a bit while Aang gets better." he acknowledged, the Avatar groaning, pulling his head up at staring at him with a determined glance.

"No... I'm really not that bad... honestly, if it weren't for the Dai Li, I would have turned Appa around and used the Avatar State. Guru Pathik taught me how to use it properly, but I never got the chance to master my power." he admitted, Katara shaking her head.

"But Aang, what if you had gotten out of control? You could have done things you might have regretted." she told him, trying to assure him what they were all thinking; Ba Sing Se was a lost cause.

"F-fine... I'm- I'm not going to do anything stupid." he mumbled, lying back down and trying to rest, much to their relief.

"Katara... what actually happened in there? Because I'm a bit confused." Sokka asked his sister, who looked at him with raised brows.

"Confused? If you're talking about Zuko betraying us, yeah, I'm not trying to question it... because it just makes me angry- he betrayed his uncle, after all he had done for him." she grit her the teeth, the Water Tribe warrior shaking his head, thinking about something else.

"No- not Zuko betraying us, I was more thinking... despite how he looks, Aang is pretty much okay." he acknowledged, "A little burning and shock, but he's recovering already." he pointed to the Avatar, who had by that point begun to sleep in Katara's arms, "Why would Zuko send a lightning bolt at Aang and not actually hurt him?" he asked, his sister's eyes narrowing.

"Well, because he wanted to capture him- knock him out." she argued, Toph intervening in their discussion.

"Why didn't he zap you too? Or Iroh? I don't know him to well, but he didn't seem like the type who would do anything like that without a reason." she suggested, her face turning to glance at Sokka, despite the fact she couldn't see, "Sokka, what do you think? Was it some kind of trick?"

"A trick?" he raised his brows, "Maybe... but I have no idea. I wasn't there."

"What kind of trick involves shooting someone with lightning?" Katara exclaimed, seemingly offended by the proposition that Zuko's attack was actually some kind of way to get Aang out of the cave.

"How can you explain what happened?" he asked his sister, who sighed, looking back down at the unconscious Avatar.

"I don't know how to explain it. All we can do is hope they don't come after us." she admitted, Toph snickering at her words.

"We've got this giant fluff-monster. There's no way they can follow us."

"Toph has a pretty good point." Sokka raised a finger, "Once we get to the warriors, we can figure out what we do next; I don't think Zuko and Azula are going to come after us, seeing that they might think Aang is dead."

"But he isn't." his sister pointed down to Aang, making the Water Tribe teen beam with hope, realising the advantage they had been given, whether on purpose or by pure incompetence on Zuko's behalf.

"Exactly. But it's not like they know that."

* * *

Sitting upon the throne of the Earth King, Princess Azula curled her lips, confident that their victory was absolute; the Avatar was defeated, and from all she could tell, he was killed by her brother's powerful and unexpected lightning bolt. The course of events had surprised her, but her brother's input into her coup wasn't unappreciated; she knew above all else that her father would acknowledge him finally. The banished prince was be no longer, and Crown Prince Zuko had been reborn in the conquest of Ba Sing Se, a phoenix rising through the flames of the final defeat of the Earth Kingdom.

"We've done it, Zuko. It's taken a hundred years, but the Fire Nation has conquered Ba Sing Se." she declared to her brother, who stood beside her, standing confidently with a smirk on his lips.

"Yes, it has. All thanks to you, sister. I once underestimated your genius, and I know for certain I was wrong to doubt you." he beamed at her, the Princess surprised by her brother's genuine show of respect for her skills; she smiled back at her brother, appreciating the bond and respect they held toward each other.

"You literally killed the Avatar. How many people can say they've done that, brother?" he asked him, the Prince shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly, dismissing the importance of his actions.

"I did what I had to do. The Avatar had to be stopped, didn't he? Wasn't that your goal in defeating him?" he suggested, the Princess shaking her head.

"No. Our father could have killed a twelve-year-old Avatar with the power of Sozin's Comet; I hold no doubt to that. I simply sought to ensure this day could finally come, where we could stand together in victory." she assured him, who smiled back at her.

"Thank you, Azula. I appreciate your belief in me, even when no one else would." he thanked, before his eyes darted away.

She guessed he was thinking about their uncle, which made sense to her, even if she didn't have a care for the man herself; he had been the other one to believe in her brother, even if Zuko ultimately had chosen her and the path of victory over that of Iroh and treachery.

"I was surprised that you were so angry at Uncle, Zuzu. Did something happen between you two?" she asked him, the Prince sighing, clenching his fists.

"He's an idiot." he declared, making her snicker, those words being an assumed truth to her already.

"I know that." she agreed with the sentiment, before he turned back to face her.

"He's an idiot because he could have stayed in his tea shop and let me do what I had to do. He didn't need to get involved, but yet, he chose to sacrifice his freedom for people he barely even knows." he sighed, the Princess curling her lips.

Her brother didn't actually despise their uncle like she did, but rather he pitied him and the choices he made; she was still in awe of her brother's resolve and steadfastness, despite what their uncle might have felt about his supposed 'betrayal'.

"Hmph- and to think I thought you'd try and kill me for capturing Suki. I doubted you brother." she acknowledged, making him snicker.

"Oh, I contemplated the thought myself, for a moment." he admitted in truth, making her eyes widen, "But I'm not going to harm you, Zula." his eyes turned to lock with her own, "You aren't my enemy, and I don't intend to ever have to fight you."

She curled her lips, "Oh, so you wouldn't want to spar for old times sake, would you, Zuzu?" she prodded, the Prince sighing, looking about the throne room.

"You don't really want to duel in the Earth King's throne room, do you?" he asked her, the Princess curling her lips as she stood up for the throne.

"I'd like to efface the sorry excuse of a monarchy I overthrew just one more time." she admitted, walking down the stairs down onto the floor of the room.

He raised a brow at her, following her and taking off his outer robes, wearing a singlet and his pants underneath, something he'd be far more suitable to spar her in than his drab Earth Kingdom clothes; she herself was already well dressed to fight, and curled her lips at him.

"No lightning though, brother. I think we can both agree that's a little too dangerous to play with." she suggested, her brother nodding at her with confidence.

"That's a funny way to admit you're afraid of me." he concluded, making her tense up; she didn't want to admit it, but her brother did scare her.

It wasn't his physical strength, but his unpredictability; all her life, she had been able to predict how Zuko would act, and now as he stood before her, she had no idea what was going through his head. What he had done in the Crystal Catacombs surprised her, as she knew that her brother had helped the Avatar on Kyoshi Island, and from the sounds of how he spoke about them, it seemed that he was at least moderately friendly with them; only a few days prior, he had broken into Lake Laogai, and fought Long Feng, who was at the time an enemy of the Avatar and his friends, to help a mutual friend. She couldn't decipher his intent; it made no sense to conclude that he actually wanted to help them, as he had shot the Avatar himself with a lightning bolt. The only thing she could conclude is that the Avatar stood in the way of Zuko's plans, whatever they must be; his face showed her that he was confidence and certain, something that was rare to see in his eyes.

Taking a firebending stance, he called out to her, "Are you ready?" he asked her, the Princess breaking out of her dazed trance; she was over-thinking her brother's actions when she should be relishing in her victory.

"Of course, brother. I'm always ready for a fight." she declared, his eyes widening momentarily before his steely glare returned; her words had had a small but noticeable impact on him.

Ignoring the potential mind-reading she could make on her brother, Azula stepped forward sending a powerful stream of flames in Zuko's direction; before it hit him, he spun his hands around, redirecting the flames before sending up them up into the air, filling the space above them with a mix of blue and orange flames. She curled her lips, impressed by her brother's firebending ability, despite the fact he had used it to passively move the flames away, rather than to fight back. She realised that his fighting style wasn't exactly the norm for a firebender; even if he joined her in victory, their uncle's influence lingered like a bad smell. She swore that the form he took as he sent the flames up was like waterbending, although she did recognise the form as being quite similar to the ones Lo and Li had taught her when she first began to generate lightning; to do so, one must manipulate one's chi to direct their firebending, and it seemed that her brother was using the same principle on her own bending.

She sent a number of smaller bolts of fire, her brother dodging them, quick on his feet, before sending a sweeping kick her way; Azula flipped over the wave of flames, before sending a powerful blast from her two feet, Zuko raising his arms to block. His defence wasn't much help against her pure power, being pushed back along the shimmering floor of the throne room; she swore he was about to fall over onto his behind, before he immediately spun around, bending two long whips of fire which reached in to grasp her. She crossed her arms before throwing them outward, the flames charged between them flying out like the blade of a dao, slicing through his fire whips. Curling her lips at her brother, she sent a kick of flames at him, before flipping once more using the spin of her cartwheel to send out a spinning wave of flames, like a whirlpool reversed, sending flames in all directions; he blocked the kick, before standing strong against her wave of flames. She jumped down and landed before him, using the momentary shroud of the wave to send a bolt of flames at her brother's head; he instinctively ducked, making a cutting motion with his foot, sending a ripple of fire at her feet, making Azula lose her precious balance. Her eyes widened before she found herself held by the neck, her brother's right fist held against her head, as if he was about the make the final blow in an Agni Kai; his expression changed immediately as he smiled at her, his fist uncurling and his hand reaching down to her belt.

She narrowed her eyes, gazing down to see her brother grabbing his very own ceremonial dagger from her belt, "Your words reminded me of this." he admitted, letting go of her, Azula rubbing her neck, realising how strongly Zuko had been holding it.

"Oh, yes. It's quite a funny story how I came to possess that blade." she suggested, her brother rolling his eyes, spinning the blade in her fingers.

"You beating up Suki is funny?" he asked her, as if to warn her of to watch her tongue; she shook her head.

"Oh no, Zuzu, that's not all." she raised a finger, pointing it toward her throat, remembering where the dagger had been held by that Kyoshi Warrior, called Amari; she had been the only person who had fought her to actually get anywhere near killing her, "After I forced the blade out of her hand, one of the other warriors tried to slit my throat with it while I was distracted by Suki."

Zuko's eyes widened before he raised a brow, "Let me guess, Amari?" he asked, the Princess curling her lips.

"She was supposedly the warrior you compared to my very self." she remembered what Suki had told her the moment before the blade nearly slit her throat.

"Oh, yeah. She proved that one can be as scary as you with no bending what so ever. She beat a Fire Nation soldier by pretending to have her hands bound and putting a twig through his jugular." he reminisced, although his tone indicated that it was not necessarily a positive memory.

"Well, I'd like to see her go one on one with a non-bending warrior of comparable skill- what about Mai?" she suggested, the Prince snickering.

"Oh, I'd like to see that fight." he admitted, before she heard the sound of disapproval in the distance.

"It already happened." Ty Lee proclaimed, standing next to the stoic girl who had just been mentioned, "Mai didn't exactly win."

"What?" she glanced at the acrobat, "Yeah, she nearly stabbed me with my own knife." making her two friends snicker in thought of the memory, the stoic girl raising her hands defensively, "What, I wasn't expecting her to actually throw it back."

"Unpredictability the greatest skill a warrior can have." the Princess mused, before turning to her brother, "I see that you picked up that very trait while you were banished, brother."

* * *

Keeping her breath steady, Suki kept her hands grasped on the metal bar above her head, lifting herself up and curling her arm before stretching it out, dropping down to nearly touch the floor with her feet; she felt the sweat dripping down her face and drab red tunic, making sure to remain focused on her breathing. Being stuck in the same prison cell all day, she had to make do with exercising within her cell; she was glad that at the very least she was being fed, although the food wasn't exactly of the highest quality, it was better than the rations she had been surviving off when crossing the Earth Kingdom with her warriors. Rising and dropping her weight, she felt the strain on her arm muscles and shoulders, her chest heaving as she tried to maintain a steady breath; she had learnt a lot about breath from Zuko and Iroh, who talked about it a lot, being the core of any firebenders ability to fight. It was the same for other benders and non-benders at that, as without breath, she would be unable to fight; not that she expected to break out of prison, but Suki knew that she ought to be ready for any potential outcome.

"Ah..." she wiped her face of sweat, before releasing her right hand, dropping down to the ground, "That's it."

She finally stopped her pull-ups, unable to hold herself up without it becoming excruciatingly painful on her arms; she took a few moments to catch her breath, leaning her torso over, holding her hands on the bars that walled her cell, as to ensure she didn't fall flat on her face. She sighed before pulling herself back up, moving to the next part of her physical training; she had tied her pillow up against one section of the barred wall, so she could use it as a dummy to hit. She began by jabbing at it in quick succession, her fists hammering hard enough that she could feel the bars behind it, despite the pillow being quite solid itself. She turned to kicking the pillow, first from head on, then kicking it from the side, and finally spin kicking it. After flexing her legs enough that they began to ache, she fell to the ground, beginning to do some push-ups; her already strained arms were barely able to hold her up, but the small amount of intense exercise she was doing kept the Kyoshi Warriors blood pumping. She eventually dropped down to the ground, he breathing becoming erratic; she curled her lips, however, feeling confident that once she was up to scratch, anyone who tried to manhandle her would be quickly dealt with. She pulled herself up to a seated position, wiping the sweat from her face before lying on her back, feeling that she could rest for a while before she did anything more; she didn't have any paper to write on, any books to read, or any people to talk to. Training was the only thing keeping her sane at that point; the guards who came to feed her barely spoke to her, sometimes acknowledging that she was rather quiet and calm prisoner. It made her snicker, knowing that was what she wanted to show them; she was a warrior, but to the eyes of ignorant Fire Nation soldiers, she might just seem to be a teenage non-bending girl, a non-threat.

She heard the prison-hold's door open, Suki's head rising; by the time of day, she guessed that was her lunch; her eyes focused on the guard who approached her cell, bringing a tray of food in his hands. He eyed her suspiciously, obviously taking note of the pillow tied to the side of the wall and her lying on the floor, which given the fact she had an actual bed, was quite an unusual place to be. The guard approached her cell, leaning down to slide the food tray in; Suki rose to her feet, slowly pacing over to take the tray from the slot that he had placed it in. She walked over to her bed and placed the tray by it, before glancing back to the soldier, who hadn't moved a muscle; she tensed for a moment, her eyes narrowing at him.

"What's the problem? Don't you have something better to do than look at me?" she asked him accusingly, the guard reaching into his belt, pulling out what looked to be a tied scroll.

"A message has come for you, from Ba Sing Se." he explained to her, the Kyoshi Warrior's eyes widening, realising that it made no sense a message could come to a prisoner of the Fire Nation from the capital of the Earth Kingdom.

"How can a message come from Ba Sing Se?" she questioend with a suspicious glare, the guard snickering for a moment, his lips curling at her, placing the scroll on the slot he had put the meal.

"Because a few days ago, the Fire Nation conquered it. The Princess herself infiltrated the city and overthrew the Earth King." he told her, the Kyoshi Warrior clenching her fists, her rather stoic face broken into a scowl.

"What?!" she exclaimed, approaching the guard with a furious face, "How did this happen?" she asked him, genuinely confused as to how Azula was able to take down Ba Sing Se all by herself.

"The Dai Li, supposedly. It's kind of a mystery." he acknowledged, before turning around, "The Prince and Princess are returning to the Fire Nation heroes."

Her eyes widened, her gut wrenching in hearing those words, "P-Prince... did you just say, Prince?" she asked, the guard looking back at her, confused by her emotional response.

"Yeah, Prince Zuko. The banished one." he acknowledged, before turning around, "This is the most you've spoken since you were put in that cell, you know that?" he mused, the question seemingly rhetorical as he walked on out of the prison-hold.

Suki's eyes turned to the scroll that sat in the slot, unsure what it would contain; if it was from Ba Sing Se, it could be from Zuko, who from what she was hearing, sounded to have rejoined the side of the Fire Nation; she remembered him going on about helping his sister, but it made little sense that he'd join the Fire Nation in conquering Ba Sing Se if he was hidden from Azula. How his sister found him and turned him to her side was beyond the Kyoshi Warrior, but the fact of it made her feel sick; she had spoken to him so many times about how he wanted to change the world, and after all that, he was willing to join his sister. She considered for a moment that it was against his will.

She grasped the scroll, and unfurled it, looking at it's content; to her surprise, it wasn't actually some kind of letter, and it had no marking as to indicate who it was from. The scroll's contents was a single phrase transcribed in characters she had seen them written before: 'Never give up without a fight'. There was only one person who would know to send her that, and it made her smile, realising that not all hope was lost; she chuckled to herself, realising the implications of the words themselves. She imagined Zuko before her, holding the dagger that had those very words on it, telling her that he knew what had happened, and that he would stop at nothing to come and save her; it was a fantasy, but with no other way to find out otherwise, it was as good as the truth to her.

"Y-yeah..." she wiped tears from her eyes, falling down to the floor as she looked at the scroll once more, "I love you too."


	41. Returning Home

_"Prince Zuko? Are you cold?"_

_Standing on the deck of his ship, Zuko felt a sense of anguish, looking out to see the Fire Nation Capital receding from view; he had lost everything, and in the end, he was the only one to blame. His uncle's worried words did not help him in any way, only furthering his sense of self-hatred; no firebender is can simply be cold outside, unless they were a weakling, like himself. He felt the chill of the sea breeze, and with it, he hammered his hands down onto the rail of his ship._

_"Should I be?" he asked his uncle with a flare of his teeth._

_Iroh looked at him with eyes of pity, making the Prince turn his eyes away from him as he tried to offer some advice, "I think you need to rest, nephew. You haven't sat down for a moment since you awoke in the infirmary."_

_"I need to find the Avatar." he growled, "What part of my banishment terms didn't you understand?" he asked his uncle rhetorically, knowing for a fact that he had heard the very words of his father while the Prince himself was informed indirectly, some time after the duel._

_"I did not misunderstand it, nephew. I simply believe that you ought to rest before you begin your search. You cannot expect to perform your best when you don't sleep, sit down, or even eat... when was the last time you ate?" he asked Zuko, who refused to look at his uncle._

_"I don't know. Before the Agni Kai... before this." he pointed to the bandage that covered his left eye, "I don't care about that, Uncle. I'll eat when I'm hungry." he told him, before looking his way, with a grimace on his face, "It's a bit hard to have an appetite when all I can smell is the burnt flesh on my face."_

_His uncle's face turned to one of shock for a moment, before he nodded, acknowledging his rather macabre point; the retired general indicated to the bridge of the ship, "I'll be in my room, making some tea. If you so desire, you can join me... but that is your choice, nephew."_

_"I'll stay out here." he told his uncle, before glancing back toward the Fire Nation capital, only the hills and the distinctive rim of the caldera visible from the distance they were at._

_He already missed his home, but he knew that he missed things more than a simple place; he missed his mother, he missed his cousin, he missed the time before Azula learned firebending, when it felt like they were truly friends. All of those things had one thing in common- they weren't going to return, or at the very least, he believed they wouldn't. His cousin was dead, and had been so for two years, as had his mother disappeared, right about the same time; his childhood with Azula was gone, and he didn't expect it to come back. She was different, and so was he, completely ignoring the fact he was sailing away on a ship that was not allowed to return until it had the Avatar in its brig; the last conversation they had rang in his mind like a smoke signal going over and over again. She told him that she was sorry- the words didn't make any sense coming from his sister's mouth; she had tried to be a good sister, and that she believed she was responsible for what had happened. She hadn't been the one to speak out against Bujing's plans, to accept the Agni Kai, to kneel and beg like a coward before their father; she hadn't done any of that, and claiming responsibility for his actions sounded both like a gross exaggeration of her influence and a belittling of his own free will. He sighed, grasping the railing once before before breathing in and out, feeling a sense of warmth return to his skin, the sea breeze no longer a bother; he looked up with determination, knowing that he could not let his banishment be the end of him._

_"I will find the Avatar and I will restore my honour." he declared, so sure in himself, that he turned his heels and immediately walked toward the bridge, knowing that he ought to set out a basic course plan; sailing aimlessly around the world was something Zuko did not want to do._

_Opening the door, he walked by the numerous crew-members that were just settling into their new quarters, walking by one of the only officers on the ship, who he knew to be called Jee; he looked at the Prince with surprise, seeing his determined scowl._

_"Sir, is something wrong?" he asked, Zuko shaking his had as he reached the staircase, turning back to face him for a moment._

_"No. I need to get to work." he declared, to the surprise of the officer, who watched on as he quickly paced his way up the first flight of stairs._

_Racing up the staircase until he reached the very top of the bridge, glancing around the glass-windowed room, that gave him a wide view across the sea around their vessel; he looked to the helmsman, who was surprised by his appearance._

_"Oh, Prince Zuko." he addressed him, furrowing a brow, "I didn't expect you to appear here this quickly."_

_"I want to plot a course." he declared, before pointing to the map on the wall, "We need to search each of the Air Temples, and the Western Air Temple is the closest to here, so I want you to set a course toward it." he directed the helmsman, whose eyes widened at hearing that specific order._

_"Of course, sir. I'll need to figure out where the supply stops are on that route, but we'll be right on our way." he assured him, the Prince nodding in with slight appreciation, despite his gruff appearance._

_Without a word he turned his heels and walked to the staircase once more, realising that he ought to ask his uncle about something important; to his relief, he wasn't thinking of tea, but rather his uncle's renowned skill as a master firebender, being perhaps one of the most powerful firebenders alive. Quickly enough he had gone down the staircase and walked down the hallway toward his uncle's quarters, immediately throwing the door open, to the fright of his uncle._

_"Argh! Nephew, you really ought to learn to knock." his uncle told him, recollecting himself as he sat preparing himself a pot of tea; the retired general's eyes looked up at him with interest, before darting back down to the pot in his hands, "Oh, did you come for the tea?" he asked his nephew, who leaned forward and shook his head._

_"No, uncle. I don't have any time for tea. I want you to set up a training regimen for firebending. If I want to have a chance facing the master of the elements, I need to master my own bending." he stressed, Iroh's eyes widening._

_"N-nephew, you've barely had an afternoon since your duel. How can you expect to begin training your firebending already?" he asked, the Prince clenching his fists._

_"Because I have Uncle. I don't think you understand the importance of this mission."_

_His uncle's eyes widened, shaking his head in disagreement, "No, Prince Zuko, I understand what you have been required to do." making his nephew turn his heels, growling back in response, not wanting a bar of his uncle's proverbs or advice until he started to take his banishment seriously._

_"Then act like it."_

* * *

Rising his head from his bed, Zuko looked around the room he had been sleeping in ever since he left Ba Sing Se; Azula's Royal Barge was luxurious in comparison to his ship, and much larger. His new bedroom was spacious and open, with a large bed and a table for him to sit at; he appreciated the luxury somehwat, but it was not the thing on his mind. He decided that in being unable to sleep, he would walk about the ship; it wasn't that long after dark, and other people would still be walking on about the ship. Climbing off of his bed, he grabbed his clothes that he had been wearing earlier that day, pulling his robes back over his body. He grabbed his boots and slid them onto his feet, before tying his waistband, his robes fitting to his body firmly; he then placed a red cloak over his shoulders, walking over to his bedroom door. He sighed before opening the door, quickly pacing his way through down the hallway that lay before him, making his way to the staircase that led up to the ship's deck. His sister's Royal Guards eyed him as he walked up toward the stairs, looking up out into the night sky; he paced up the staircase, looking out around the deck, noting that the sky was black and featureless, with no stars or moon to be seen. The sight was somewhat chilling, altough he was calmed when he walked over to the railing of the deck, looking out to the choppy waters, which looked mesmerising as he focused on the crest of each tiny wave moving along in the water as the ship sailed by.

"Aren't you cold?" he heard a familiar voice behind him, glancing toward Mai, who had a rather concerned face, despite the fact that it remained as stoic as usual; the nuisances of her expressions was something he had some understanding of, and chuckled at her words.

"Uh... I'm not cold. I'm just bored, and I couldn't sleep." he explained himself; she put her arms on the railing beside him, her eyes catching his.

"So, I'm guessing you're feeling good about coming home..." she acknowledged, the Prince looking out to the water.

"Y-yeah, I am." he flat out lied, knowing that he wasn't excited by any definition of the word; being one step closer to finding Suki was what he would be when he returned home, and that was what mattered to him.

"I haven't been back to the homeland for a few months now. I'm glad I'm not going back to New Ozai. That place was such a bore." she acknowledged, Zuko raising a brow with slight confusion.

"Sorry, New Ozai?" he asked, the stoic girl snickering, curling her lips slightly.

"Oh you didn't hear? Azula renamed Omashu after your father." she told him, the Prince rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, that's Azula." he concluded, knowing that his sister was certainly the kind of person to rename a city in the honour of her father, "Perhaps we should ask father to rename Ba Sing Se in her honour." he joked, the stoic girl raising a brow with interest.

"Is that a joke I hear coming from the most gruff and serious person I know?" she asked him, the Prince shrugging his shoulders.

"Well, it's only a joke if father wouldn't accept that demand." he added, Mai narrowing her eyes at him momentarily before turning around.

"Goodnight, Zuko. Don't fall overboard... Azula would kill me if that happened." she mused, the Prince giving her a curt wave before returning his focus back to the water.

His eyes stayed on the waves for a few moments, before he decided he ought to go walk somewhere else; he had had something on his mind that he had tell someone, and there was only one person he could tell it to, and he was in the prison-hold. Walking back down the staircase, he made his way back down through the hallway that led down through the centre of the ship; turning a corner, he went down another set of stairs, eventually arriving at the deepest part of the ship, walking down past the engine room to the back of the ship, where he opened a thick metal door with only a small set of bars on it to indicate that it was what he was looking for. He opened the door and took a deep breath, unsure if his uncle would respond to him if he tried to speak with him.

He approached the only occupied cell, looking through the bars of the cell, where his uncle sat on the floor meditating, "Uncle, we need to talk." Iroh looked away from him, even though his eyes remained closed, and after a few more moments of silence, the Prince decided to enunciate his intentions a little more clearly, "About my plan to fix the Fire Nation."

Iroh's eyes opened, his eyes turning up to face him, "Do you need my advice?"

"No, Uncle." Zuko stressed, his voice sounding harsh, "I want you to understand."

"Understand what? You trying to murder the Avatar?" he asked him, Zuko rolling his eyes; his intention had never been to kill Aang, and his uncle should have known better to presume he had better intentions than that.

"I didn't try to murder Aang, I saved him." he told his uncle, stressing the Avatar's personal name as he spoke; he didn't even dislike the Avatar or his friends that much, but he didn't want them to needlessly get involved with his plans.

"Saved him?" Iroh asked him, sounding genuinely curious, before his eyes widened, "Azula would have killed him." he acknowledged, "So you beat her to it... albeit by pretending to do so."

"That's right." he confirmed, "I couldn't have Aang be captured by Azula, or killed by her, because he's the only one who can certainly defeat our father if worst comes to bare."

"So you still intend to defeat your father, Prince Zuko?" he asked him, the Prince sighing.

"I hope I don't have to face him personally. I don't trust in my own abilities to be able to defeat him in a one-on-one fight- that's why the Avatar needs to continue to master the elements, and hopefully 'stay dead'." he acknowledged.

"Why didn't you just tell me what you intended to do?" he asked the Prince, who raised his hands, frustrated by such a question in the first place.

"I had no idea Azula was in Ba Sing Se, or that Suki had been captured-" he explained, Iroh's eyes widening.

"W-wait... that's why- by the spirits." the retired general gasped, his nephew realising that he had only just learnt about Suki's imprisonment, "So, she's in prison right now?"

"I think so. That's why I had to join Azula, so I could return to the Fire Nation and break her out." he explained to his uncle, who looked up at him with interest.

"Will you break me out of prison?" he asked, the Prince sighing.

"No one will care too much if a single Earth Kingdom warrior goes missing out of the prison system, but a lot of people will when it's the Fire Lord's own brother." he stressed, the retired general sighing as he looked about his small prison cell.

"So I will have to wait, will I?" he asked, the Prince nodding in confirmation, "For what exactly?" he furthered his questioning, his nephew sighing, looking to the door of the prison-hold instinctively; if anyone had heard what he had already said, he would be as just as much a traitor as his uncle, but if what he was about to say fell to the ears of his sister, he didn't know what would happen.

"For the opportunity to arise... Azula is the key." he explained, his uncle's eyes widening with a sense of dread.

"You're not putting everything on your belief in Azula, are you? She's not right in the head, Zuko." he stressed, the Prince breathing out deeply, looking away from Iroh.

"It doesn't matter if she is or not. What matters is if she can get better, which I believe she can." he told his uncle with a tone of determination.

"I am proud of you, nephew. For believing in someone when no one else will." he admitted, the Prince sighing, thinking back to what his relationship with Azula was like before their mother disappeared.

"She has no one else to. Mother's gone. Father has never cared about her. It's time I make an effort... it's time I be the brother I should have always been."

Iroh looked up at him sympathetically, "I am sorry, nephew. I should have been a better uncle to both of you. Maybe all of this could have been avoided if I had."

"No." he stressed in converse, "You have taught me everything I know, Uncle... well, most of it." he chuckled, "You did the best you could, I know you did... but Azula, she still needs someone, and its up to me to be that someone."

"Then be the brother you always wanted to be, Zuko. I know you can do it." he acknowledged, the Prince smiling back at his uncle before making a tilt of his head in respect.

"Thank you, Uncle." he told him, before raising a hand to the metal bars, "Trust me, we will be free once again. All I need is some time."

His uncle silently nodded and with that Zuko turned his heels and walked on out of the prison-hold, knowing that it was unsafe of him to continue speaking with him; the chance of Azula's guards catching him was enough of a threat that he had to leave with haste, immediately pacing back through the engine room, and then back into the hallway that stretched down the length of the ship. He turned at the stairwell and climbed it, reaching his deck, where he walked on down the hallway to his own room, which sat amongst the other expansive rooms that were occupied by Mai and Ty Lee. Approaching his room, he looked at the door, checking if anyone had been in his room; he felt a tenseness as he opened the door, and felt a sense of relief to find out no one was in his room, until he stepped in and hear a familiar voice beside him, right where the door had covered his field of view.

"Have a nice stroll, Zuzu?" he heard his sister's voice, making him instinctively flinch back, his eyes widening as he realised she was waiting for him.

"Argh!" he muffled a shout, "What are you doing here?"

"Making sure you didn't do anything stupid." she stressed, "Where did you go, brother? I saw you from the bridge talking with Mai, but when you returned under the deck, you didn't come to your room."

"I just had to go toilet." he lied, Azula raising a brow of suspicion toward him, "What? People need to go when they need to go." he stressed, making her roll her eyes.

"Tsk tsk, I thought you'd be more interesting, Zuzu." she chided him, making him sweat; if she knew about him talking to uncle before they even came home, his plans would be compromised.

"Well, I am interesting, thank you." he suggested to her, "Although I'd like to ask why you bothered to come and wait in my room. Don't you need to go to sleep? We're not that far from home now, aren't we?"

She shrugged her shoulders, "Huh- I couldn't sleep. I feel a little uneasy returning home, after what I did."

"What you did?" he asked her, the Princess nodding.

"You see, brother, while the treachery you committed was circumstantial, as you had to protect your earth peasant friends from Zhao, but the treachery I committed... well let's just say I went out of the way to make sure your old rival didn't escape the North Pole."

"Yeah, I heard what happened." he admitted with a sympathetic face, his eyes widening, before he realised he would have to explain how he did, "Uh, Sokka told me."

She raised an eyebrow at him, placing a hand on her hip, "Sorry, and how did you speak to Sokka, an enemy of the Fire Nation?"

"In Ba Sing Se. I met him and Toph, the earthbending girl, when they were looking for the Avatar's sky-bison." he stressed, making her look at him suspiciously.

"Is that so, Zuzu. Did you just forget to tell me about this?" she asked him, the Prince shaking his head.

"I didn't think it was relevant." he lied, knowing that he really didn't want to tell her.

"Well, what did you talk to them about?" she questioned, Zuko's face flushing red in thought.

"You're not going to like the answer to that, Azula." he admitted, the Princess leaning closer.

"What was it?" she stressed each word, making him gulp; he wasn't afraid of her, but rather how she might feel from what he had talked to the Water Tribesman about.

"Uh... remember how I made that joke in Ba Sing Se, about you and Sokka." he recalled, Azula's eyes widening.

"Oh, no. You wouldn't dare." she gasped, the Prince raising his hands defensively.

"It was Toph that brought it up!" he deflected blame, the Princess clenching her fists at him.

"So he speeled himself out how much he adores I, Princess Azula of the Fire Nation?" she asked him, the Prince stepping back for a moment before nodding.

"Uh... pretty much." he admitted, in truth; he thought that Sokka was weird for having a crush his sister, although then again, he actually tried to think of her in a positive light too, so he couldn't exactly blame him.

She face-palmed before sighing, her eyes narrowing on him with a serious intent, "Oh spirits. You better not tell Ty Lee about this, or I'm going to give your right eye a matching scar, got it?"

He gulped and nodded profusely, "Of course. Got it. Definitely." he assured her, before his eyes turned to the open hallway beside them, "Uh... so could I go to bed now?" he asked her.

The Princess looked at him with a glare for a moment before walking out of the door, "Good night, brother." she farewelled, Zuko raising a hand to give a curt wave, more than anything relieved that she hadn't delved further into what he had been doing, which most certainly wasn't going to the toilet.

"Uh, yeah, good night."

* * *

Sitting in an unusual metal carriage, Suki was surprised to see herself and a number of other prisoners be taken along down across what looked like a lake; she had just arrived at an island, where she assumed that she would be imprisoned. The lake was emanating a large amount of steam, making her feel uneasy; where ever she was, it was not a normal prison- she guessed that it was the Boiling Rock, although she didn't see any 'boiling rocks' about, so the name was a mystery to her. Looking down the line the carriage was being pulled along, she could see what looked to be the prison proper, a massive stone and steel structure that sat on an island in the middle of the lake, towering above nearly as high as the rocky walls that lined the island; her eyes widened, realising that she wasn't just in any lake- it was a volcano. Her conceptualisation of a volcano wasn't a pit filled with water, but then again, she hadn't ever seen one; just stories, and Zuko specifically described the Fire Nation as having a lot of them. Eventually their carriage reached the edge of the prison stronghold itself, the vehicle coming to a halt; after she heard a hydraulic sound in the distance, the doors of the vehicle opened, and some guards entered the carriage.

"Everyone out!" one of them shouted, pointing out of the door; one by one, they lined out through the carriage, before standing in a line before a number of guards, headed by one who didn't wear the same masked helmet as the others, but rather a headband- she immediately assumed he was the head of the facility.

"Welcome to the Boiling Rock. I'm sure you've all heard the horrible rumours about our little island. Well, I just want to tell you that they don't have to be true, as long as you do everything I say." he told them, walking alongside and examining them; she didn't want to follow any stupid rules, especially those enforced by her captors, but following the rules would keep the attention off her, especially seeing that she wanted to escape the prison itself, "You will all do as I say, or pay the price. Do you understand?" he asked the line of prisoners, all of them begrudgingly nodding before he pointed down to their left, "Now, get these prisoners out of my sight."

She was led down along in line with the other prisoners to a staircase, which led down into the depths of the prison, which was shaped somewhat like a hollow box, with a large yard in the centre; one by one, prisoners were put into cells as they walked along, until finally, it was her turn.

A guard grasped her by the shoulders and asked her, "Suki, Leader of the Kyoshi Warriors, correct?"

She nodded, clarifying his information, before he opened the cell door, leading her inside; in the cell there was nothing but a mattress, which wasn't exactly an improvement from her last cell; there she had at the very least a toilet to use, although then again, she preferred to not have to sleep with the stench of her own filth. The door of her cell was closed, and Suki approached the small metal bar slit that sat on the door around her eye-level, allowing her to peer out. Looking at the multi-story complex of cells, her eyes widened, realising how large the prison she was in was. She had no idea how she could escape it, although from what she had scantily heard, it was supposedly very secure; that to her sounded to be inescapable, although she was unsure if that was actually the case.

Realising that she might be stuck in her cell for a while, she walked over to her mattress, and pulled it up from the ground; rolling it up, she placed it at the side of her cell, before she took a fighting stance. Throwing punches and making feigning attacks like she would when training with her warriors, she curled her lips, seeing that she was still as fast as she had been when she was still training on a daily basis with them. She then walked up to the wall and did a handstand, holding her weight against the wall as she held herself up; she alternated between keeping herself up with her left and right hands before she returned back to her feet. She pulled her mattress up, lining it against the wall, before beginning to work her punches into it; by the time she was sweating profusely and panting, she felt confident enough to say she that she had done enough training for the day.

Suki knew that she needed to be ready to face her fellow prisoners, as well the potential fight that might come in escape attempt. She, for one, did not intend to remain in prison until she was 'rescued'; she truly doubted anyone other than Zuko would actually be able to or willing to risk coming to get her, and even then, she had no idea how he could get her out of a prison when she was mostly clearly an enemy of the Fire Nation. Sitting herself back against the wall, she wiped the sweat from her forehead, finding herself surprised when her cell door opened, seemingly randomly.

"It's yard time!" she heard a guard call out in the distance, "Get up!"

She rose to her feet, stretching her arms out for a moment before approaching the doorway; as she leaned her head out, she checked to see what was going on, taking note that her entire floor was going to the yard. Following the other prisoners that began to quickly file down the walkway toward the stairs, she made her way down, eyeing about the prison, trying to gain a better understanding of her surroundings; it seemed from what she could see that there was a lot of prisoners, and something that in of itself made it hard to escape. Even with an escape route, she would have the challenge of not getting spotted; her mind crossed the potential of a night escape, but then she was unsure how she would get on in the first place. The vehicle she had entered the prison seemed to be the only way in and out of the facility, and considering that the water was steaming hot, she assumed that swimming was a suicidal option; the only way out would be the way she came, but Suki had no idea how she would even get on it without the guards getting suspicious. She could potentially lead a prison revolt, but she reneged on that thought quickly, realising that it would require a large amount of coordination and trust in strangers who were mostly going to be the unsavoury type, not noble warriors like herself; she didn't believe them to necessarily be below her, but she knew she couldn't trust them, which was what counted when one wanted to orchestrate something that complicated. She sighed as she made her way down to the yard, realising that she was going to be stuck in the Boiling Rock for some time, until she somehow came up with a genius plan; she sighed, wishing she had a moment of genius like back in the forest when she was fleeing from the Fire Nation. That plan had actually succeeded perfectly, although the problem seemed to be that Appa was far more traceable than they themselves were. To escape the Boiling Rock, she would need a really good plan, or some outside help, both things being hard to come by, given the circumstances.

* * *

Standing in front of a wall of flames beside her brother, Azula found a sense of accomplishment; they had finally returned home to the Fire Nation and she had Zuko with her. She couldn't be more proud of her brother and their victory in Ba Sing Se; she was sure their names would be recalled from the annals of Fire Nation history, long after they had passed from the world. The Prince and Princess were home together, and she sure that now reunited, they could work together to better their nation, together; he was not just a pawn in her games, he was far more than that. His striking down the Avatar showed her just that; she couldn't read him any longer, he was just as undecipherable as a stone wall. Whatever Zuko had been when he left the Fire Nation all those years ago, he didn't exist anymore, not really; the brother she knew was hotheaded, conflicted and weak-willed; the new Zuko, he was a mirror image of her very self. His determination, even at that moment as she looked at him, was like sweat dripping from his skin; she had no idea what he planned to do next, now that he had returned home and was likely to reinstated as their father's heir. She was so intrigued that she dared to step closer and ask him herself.

"Brother, we're finally home." she acknowledged the situation, glancing forward to Lo and Li, who were preparing to open their return with a booming speech, "How do you feel?"

"Ready. I'm ready to do my duty." he told her with his usual croaky voice; she found it so unusual to associate his voice with one of calmness, methodology and pure drive, like herself; she refined her voice, her tone, to ensure that she sounded as powerful and serious as possible, but her brother didn't need to do that- the look on his face said it all.

"You sound angry, Zuzu. Not in the same way that you'd get angry at me for beating you in our spars- the 'I'm going to burn someone's face off' kind of angry." she acknowledged, the Prince snickering at her comments.

"That's funny." he commended her words, "I do feel like that."

"Is your anger permanently attached to your body?" she asked him, the Prince shaking his head.

"How else could I be a worthy heir to our father... my rage powers my bending, just like it does yours."

"So what are you angry about, Zuzu?" she asked him, prodding him playfully, despite being genuinely interested in what he might have to say.

"You would love to know... but it's something that is best left..." he told her, his eyes expressing a lethal desire, "unsaid." before tilting his head up, "They're about to start." he pointed toward her two tutors, who sat on podiums, ready to proclaim them.

"Your Princess Azula, clever and beautiful, disguised herself as the enemy and entered the Earth Kingdom's Capital." Li began, noticing Zuko's eyebrow twitch at the mention of the word enemy, "In Ba Sing Se, she found her brother Zuko, and together they faced the Avatar..."

Then both of the twin sisters proclaimed in concert, "And the Avatar fell! And the Earth Kingdom fell!"

Lo continued on alone, furthering their tale, "Azula's agents quickly overtook the entire city. They went to Ba Sing Se's great walls..." before the sisters spoke together at once, their voices booming.

"And brought them down!"

Azula's eyes flickered at the memories; it was the greatest thing she had ever seen, the walls falling before her very eyes at the hands of those who were meant to protect the city; the poetic nature of it didn't miss her, and she relished in the tale itself. She had written a story for the ages, and her brother struck the unexpected turn right down pat; never would have she expected her brother to deliver such a rapid, ruthless blow to the Avatar, knocking him down like he was nothing.

"The armies of the Fire Nation surged through the walls and swarmed over Ba Sing Se, securing our victory." Li proclaimed, before she was joined by her sister in introducing the royal siblings themselves.

"Now the heroes have returned home!" they declared, signalling Azula to walk forward, curling her lips at her brother for a moment before pacing forward away from the flames, toward the podium, where she stood before a massive crowd of people, ready to see her.

"Your princess, Azula..." Lo introduced her, the crowd cheering loudly, much to the Princess's approval.

Li then introduced her brother, "And after three long years, your prince has returned..." the twin sisters shouting out together.

"Zuko!" they shouted, her brother approaching the podium as she had, when he reached her side, she saw his face, noting that he pulled a smirk so confident, she thought that it rightfully belonged on the face of Admiral Zhao, the most vain and prideful man she knew before his own self-inflicted demise.

"We've done it, brother." she proclaimed, "You have returned to your rightful place."

"Yes," he agreed, his fists clenching, although his face expressed a different emotion to that of his body, "I have."

* * *

Kneeling before the flames of his father's throne, Zuko felt a sense of dread; not because he feared his father- no, quite the contrary. He feared what he might do once he saw his face again; he remembered what his father had done to him, how he had disgraced him, and even Azula disagreed with his actions. That was what proved it to him, only a few hours after it happened; he tried to deny it- he did it for years, but the pain could only be held back for so long. He didn't find the Avatar, and his anger boiled over, and he directed towards Zhao instead of the man who truly deserved to face it. He succeeded in putting the vain man in his place, but paid the price for his honour, his ship destroyed and stranded on Kyoshi Island; he was in a world of limbo, and he didn't know how to be angry at that point. He was so disconnected from the reality that he had come to understand that Kyoshi Island might as well have been on another world; on that world, he found friendship, care and a sense of purpose, although he only admitted it to himself when he was offered the contrary. Azula wanted him to go with her to the North Pole, so he could finally end Zhao, and capture the Avatar for himself; by that point, he realised that wasn't what he wanted anymore. What he wanted was to fix the Fire Nation, do to what he had always really wanted to do, before his father burnt his face, seemingly in an attempt to taint him, to ruin his true desires. But now, as he knelt before him, he realised the feelings he had been holding had a true source, and he stood before him; Zuko wanted to spin his hands around and strike him down with lightning- he wanted to kill him. That was what he wanted to do, and it made him sick to acknowledge it; all his pain was rooted in that one man, and he thought for a moment that if he struck him down, he might feel a sense of relief from that anguish. But then he remembered his uncle's words- he shouldn't be rash, he shouldn't just jump in with his feelings; his father ought to be glad that Iroh was his uncle, otherwise, he would have found himself fried by a bolt of lightning to the chest.

"You've been away for a long time. I see the weight of your travels has changed you." Ozai proclaimed, the Prince curling his lips; his father was right on the spot in his judgement, except he had changed in ways his father wouldn't appreciate, "You have redeemed yourself, my son. Welcome home."

"Thank you, father." he lied straight through his teeth, not wanting to say the first thing that came to mind.

"I am proud of you, Prince Zuko." his father smirked at him, "I am proud because you and your sister conquered Ba Sing Se. I am proud because when your loyalty was tested by your treacherous uncle, you did the right thing and captured the traitor. And I am proudest of all of your most legendary accomplishment: you slayed the Avatar." the Fire Lord declared, leaning out from his throne with a intrigued glance, "When Azula told me, I was astounded. You picked up our family's most powerful technique, lightning generation, in the span of a few months. Just how did you do it?"

The Prince looked up at his father, realising he would have to distort the truth somewhat, "I found a sense of purpose, a drive. When Zhao tried to have me killed, he sparked a rage in me and I was able to direct, and I directed it into defeating the Avatar, so I could destroy him." the Prince explained himself, knowing that he ought to have replaced the word 'Avatar' with 'you', which felt like it would have sat better on his tongue; Aang was a child who didn't deserve anything that he had been dealt down- the destruction of his people was bad enough, but his father, he deserved very much what was coming for him.

"I am curious my son, how did it feel to kill the Avatar, right then and there?" Ozai asked him, raising his brows with what looked like slight suspicious; whether or not it would be stated, their conversation was starting to feel like an interrogation rather than his father congratulating him.

Zuko tensed for a moment, trying to think of what his father would want him to say; he curled his lips and put on a fake smile of confidence, "Liberating. At that moment, I knew... I knew I had regained my honour."

"Good. My son, I am proud to say that you have more than redeemed yourself. You have shown me that you are the true heir to this nation. No one else could have struck down the Avatar with such ferocity." he proclaimed, Zuko dropping his head, feigning the respect he once held for the man before him.

"Thank you, father. I only hope I can serve the Fire Nation as well as you have."

"I know you will. You are dismissed." he waved his hand, the smile on his father's face seemingly genuine; the belief that he had created another killing-machine, made him almost gleeful.

If only his father knew as he walked away, what Zuko truly intended to do with his new-found power; he would subvert the will of the Fire Lord, and fix his nation for the better, in with an image of peace, prosperity and fairness. Despite his vision, there was much that needed to be done; Suki was currently in a Fire Nation prison, where exactly he would find out soon enough, and his sister was still seemingly loyal to their father and his ideals. He knew he could find his girlfriend, so they could be reunited and she could be free, and he was certain that his sister could be shown the light- all she needed was a little push. His uncle had been far too passive in his approach to Zuko, to the point at which he could say that most of his decisions to change were elicited from the trauma of a shipwreck, and the bonds he found on Kyoshi Island. He knew that he wasn't going to traumatise his sister for the sake of making her have an epiphany, and he thought of her falling in love or something of the likes didn't just seemed unlikely- it made no sense, given her state of mind. He knew there would be only one way to elicit change from his sister, but he knew that it would require confronting something he knew both of them would have to deal with sooner or later: their mother.


	42. Love and Honour

_Standing above her beaten brother, Princess Azula wagged her finger disapprovingly; how could her brother ever expect to be able to defeat Captain Zhao if he couldn't even lay a hand on her. Zuko looked up at her with disdainful eyes, and seemingly a sense of begrudging respect; he had once envied her abilities from afar, but now as they began to spar, that envy found itself met with fireballs to his face. She was teaching him a valuable lesson in beating him; he shouldn't simply fight her because he has to improve his bending, but rather so could understand how to fight. She learnt well enough from the constant droning of her various tutors that a good leader had to know how to beat his enemies with as little effort as possible; to use all one's effort would be a waste, to be stubborn like the Earth Kingdom, which refused to fall to the might of the Fire Nation. Of course, counter intuitively, it required her brother to stubbornly learn how to strategise, how to be the best tactician and be ready to act in the moment._

_"Zuzu, come on. You've got be able to land a hit, sooner or later." she chided him, the Prince's eyes narrowing at her._

_"How can I hit you if you anticipate my every move?" he asked her, the Princess scoffing at his words; had he learnt nothing of strategy from his tutors?_

_"It's called trickery and deception, brother." she rolled her eyes._

_Despite being nearly two years younger than him, it seemed that she was better and understanding the ins and outs of strategy and warfare; then again, not every eleven year old boy ought to know all that, but seeing her brother was the heir of the Fire Nation, she thought it would make a lot more sense for him to do so._

_"Hmph- I don't know how I'm going to trick you." he admitted bluntly, Azula pointing down at him._

_"That's one thing- don't just say what you're thinking. Hold it in, like... I don't know..." she mumbled to herself, making him snicker._

_"Like a fart?" he asked her, making her snicker; that was a stupid sounding but apt metaphor._

_"Well, yes." she begrudgingly acknowledged, before turning around._

_"Now, do you want to try again?" she asked him, Zuko slowly returning to her feet._

_"Uh- so I gotta hold everything in. Just throw my fireballs without thinking about it?" he asked her, Azula glancing back his way, responding in the most deadpan voice she could make._

_"You have to think about everything. But you've got to be... uh- what's the word..." she mumbled to herself, unsure how to end her advice; being ten years-old she didn't have the greatest or most expansive vocabulary, and there was a word she was looking for, but she was unable to find it._

_"Quick?" he tried to finish her sentence, the Princess shaking her head._

_"No. Not quick. Be sure. Be certain. Be... decisive! That's it." she remembered the word she was thinking of, earning an amused look from her brother._

_"Okay, got it, Zula." he assured her, before taking a stance, Azula realising she had distracted herself and given her brother ample time to prepare._

_"Whether that trick was planned or not, doesn't matter... I'll still win." she declared, her brother smirking with a cunning grin, as she often liked to do; it was slightly unnerving to see, but after she quickly sent a volley of fireballs at his head, the smile was quickly wiped off his face._

_He quickly returned her attack with a simple set that she had already well recognised, quickly deflecting each blast with precision; she realised that his flames were powerful, but they lacked the precision and intensity to injury her. She mused for a moment whether that was intentional, but dismissed it when he sent a kick her way, a bright orange stream of flames channelling out of his foot; she ducked under the attack, before grabbing his ankle, her brother's eyes widening before she threw him the to ground. She moved into a stance to force him to surrender, but before she had his face in her sights, he had spun himself around, flames coming out of his feet; the sudden burst of fire caught her off guard, singing her boots and making her stumble back in reflex. Despite all her training, an unexpected burst of flames could still make her reel back; it was innate, not like fear, something she desired to wipe from her mind. When one had the determination to overcome an obstacle, then they had no need for fear; that was something her father once, and she knew it to be right- it was her truth. She fell back onto her behind, but quickly rolled over, taking a low stance to deflect the fire blast from her brother, who was trying to take advantage of her momentary lapse in strength. Before he could try and throw another fireball her way, her palm connected with his fist, nullifying both of their bending; for a moment, he looked like he was about to do something else, but she had him in her sights, tripping him with her right foot before standing over him with a fist ready to send a fire blast into his face. Although he took a moment to breath, the fact he dropped to the ground indicated that he conceded in their duel._

_"Have you had enough, Zuzu?" she questioned him, the Prince sighing before nodding in confirmation; she offered him a hand to help him up, "You did actually follow my advice. I didn't see that kick coming." she acknowledged, her brother surprised by her honesty._

_"Uh- thanks, Zula." he made an awkward smile, before raising a finger to his chin, "I think I need to work on my stance." making her curl her lips, thinking that she had gotten to her brother; the more he understood their duels, the better he would get during them._

_"That's what I want to hear."_

* * *

"Rise, Princess Azula."

Azula's eyes rose to look up at her father, who had a look on his face that she could only describe as displeased; he was not angry- that was a very different emotion, but he still seemed rather frustrated about something, or someone. Fire Lord Ozai was not a kind man, but she once believed he was not needlessly cruel; she had been proven wrong three years prior, and when he flat out ignored Zuko's disappearance, she knew that he was more than that. He was a horrible father, and she didn't want to admit it to herself.

"Father, why did you request me here." she asked, the Fire Lord tensing up in his throne, as if to hold back his anger.

"Your brother has returned, and now you have been displaced as heir of the Fire Nation. He is now officially Crown Prince." he declared, the Princess not showing any shock or surprise in her face; it was tradition that the first born be the heir of the Fire Lord, and her brother was no longer banished, so it was logical that he would become Crown Prince again.

The throne room became silent, Azula waiting for some kind of appending question; upon hearing nothing, she dared to question, "And?"

His eyes widened, before his face contorted into one of disappointment, a despising glare she had only ever seen him use on her brother, "And?" he repeated her words, "Are you not going to argue in your own favour? Do you not believe yourself the more capable heir?" he questioned her, his tone growing impatient.

She raised a brow, realising that she had never been raised such a question; there had always been an assumption that she was better than Zuko, but her father had never directly addressed it in such a manner, at least when her brother held the title of Crown Prince himself.

"Well..." he mumbled, trying to think of an adequate response, "I am better than Zuko." she acknowledged, before narrowing her eyes at her father, "But what use is a throne for me, father? It is simply a seat, a title, a headpiece. Power isn't static, it's where people believe it resides."

His eyes narrowed at her, "So, you believe the throne is irrelevant to your ambitions?" he asked her openly, the Princess nodding.

"I do not need to be Fire Lord to be a worthy heir father." she stressed, "I can further your legacy... in other ways." she decided of herself in that moment; she hadn't thought through her response, but rather just gave it as she saw it.

Ozai's face had shifted from one of frustration to one of piqued interest, and he looked down upon her with his hands up to his chin, "So, my daughter, do you believe you would be better suited to producing heirs for our bloodline instead?" he asked her, forcing her into a corner; children was something far from her mind, and she most certainly didn't seek to serve the Fire Nation by creating little princes and princesses.

"No." she bluntly told him, "That may be an eventuality, but that is not what I desire. I desire to shape our nation's destiny, quite literally." she declared, the Fire Lord looking at her with a slight tinge of respect.

"You are worthy, Princess Azula, but I believe you are made for greater things than being a shadow. The powerful deserve authority, the weak deserve servitude. Do you really believe you are better off with your brother taking your place?" he asked her, sounding the closest she had ever heard him to being concerned.

"No." she admitted, "But this is the burden I must bear. I have a duty to my nation, and Zuko and I are better to serve together than one of us alone."

The Fire Lord stared her down for a moment, before raising a hand, "That is all, my daughter. Please, return to whatever you were doing."

"Thank you, father." she bowed to him, before turning around all walking down the long hall toward the front door of the throne room; as she walked toward it, it was almost as if she could feel her father's glare piercing the back of her head.

She didn't dare look back, dare show an inch of weakness; she couldn't, not when she was no longer the only heir. Zuko's return was both a blessing and a curse; her own desires to shape her brother into the next Fire Lord could be attained, at the cost of her father's eyes becoming far more watchful and critical of her every move. As the doors were opened for her, she turned her heels and immediately began to pace back toward her room; she needed to think of her next move, and quickly- Zuko was back, but she had a feeling he would only be the beloved heir of her father for a short time before he began to show his colours once again. Her brother was always like that, too stubborn to change his ways, even if at the moment she thought, the only image that could come into her mind was him striking down the Avatar with a lightning bolt. She didn't think he had changed in any fundamental way, but rather, the true Zuko had emerged, from whatever disastrous wreck was the banished prince who had suffered for far too long. That shipwreck had broken the camel's back, and that camel and burst into flames and returned a phoenix; now it was time to determine what that phoenix wanted, lest he burn down the palace in a fit of rage.

* * *

Walking into a tavern in the Fire Nation Capital reminded Zuko distinctively of the last two taverns he had stayed in, one in a village to the east of Omashu, and another outside the Outer Wall in Ba Sing Se; both of those times he was there he had been with his uncle, who he still hadn't seen since he they had returned home. The man himself was on his mind, not because he was missing him, but because of the person he intended to meet in the tavern itself. There was man he had been at odds with for a for a lot of his journey to search the Avatar, yet they had never had a proper farewell; the Prince did not however intend to farewell that man, but come to him with a proposition. Lieutenant Jee had been loyal to his uncle until the very end, when he was forced to return to the homeland, as he found out later from records, when Iroh set upon Admiral Zhao, who he rightly believed had something to do with the sinking of their ship.

The man himself was inconspicuously sitting by the bar, the only thing indicating to the Prince that he was indeed the Lieutenant was his grey sideburns that distinctively lined his face, and his steely, ever serious eyes narrowed down on the drink below his eyes. He had already sent Jee a message on the Royal Barge after speaking to his uncle, deciding that he was in sore need of some allies who could assist him with his plans; as his plans ultimately would lead to his uncle's release, or more accurately, break out from prison, he believed that Jee might be inclined to assist him. He was also willing to pay the Lieutenant swimmingly, but after noting his presence on his ship as an exile, he knew that he was there for reasons other than duty to the Fire Nation.

As he sat down beside the Lieutenant, his eyes turned to face Zuko, noting his changed appearance, "Huh, I didn't believe it, but you actually grew some hair. Who would have knew you'd get out of that damned phoenix-tail." he acknowledged, making Zuko instinctively touch at his scalp; he had purposely worn it down as he walked through the city, not wanting to attract attention to his glaringly noticeable scar.

"Thanks." he sarcastically acknowledged, "It's nice to see you too." he sat himself down on the bar beside him, raising a finger to ask for a drink.

"Are you old enough to drink?" Jee asked him, raising a brow with suspicion, "I'm pretty sure the last time I checked you were underage."

"They won't know that. And the scar stops anyone from asking detailed questions." he suggested with a smug pull of the lips, the Lieutenant looking at him with surprise.

"You've changed." he bluntly observed, the Prince chuckling, taking the drink that quickly arrived into his hand.

"I certainly have." he confirmed, before deciding to delve into the matter at hand, "I didn't want to make my letter sound too urgent... but well, it is."

"I heard about the General. It's horrible that they're locking him up." he sighed with a sense of regret, "He was only trying to avenge you." before looking at the Prince with an uneasy look, "We all thought you were dead."

"I know. I'm sorry I didn't try and escape captivity. I could have prevented all of... well all of this." he admitted, knowing that even if he didn't want to give up his time on Kyoshi Island in hindsight, the Zuko that had shipwrecked on that island wanted more than anything to return to his uncle, and make sure he was okay.

Jee's eyes brightened in thought, "Oh, I heard Zhao was killed by the Northern Water Tribe during that invasion. Horrible fate, even for an arsehole like him." he noted, the Prince chuckling, unsure if he should tell him what actually happened.

"Yeah, I know." he acknowledged, before turning around, "Sorry, what I was going to say was, I need your help."

"No, I got that, but you kept your words vague, in an expert politically-correct fashion." the Lieutenant's eyes narrowed.

"I had to, because I can't have anyone finding out what I'm going to do... or have any kind of idea of the kind of things I'll do."

Jee gave him a sceptical glance, "Oh, that sounds brilliant." he sarcastically acknowledged, "What level of treason are we heading to today?" he asked the Prince, who chuckled.

"Well, today, there's going to be no treason." he assured him, "Today." he further stressed, implying that might come, without even telling him what he wanted him to do.

"So, what do you want me to do?" he asked the Prince, who raised a brow realising how simple Jee's job would be.

"Well, I need you on a boat." he bluntly told him, the Lieutenant giving him a deadpan look.

"Another boat. This sounds like fun already." he sighed, the Prince raising his hands.

It was another boat, but not the kind they were on. He didn't exactly have perfect intelligence on the matter, mostly second hand descriptions and numbers from his father's naval reports, which were luckily left for him in the study which he and Azula had perfected breaking into; he knew that if he asked the Minister of Military Affairs to slot his loyal former subordinate Jee with a new cozy job on the supply ship to the Boiling Rock, it'd just seem like ordinary cronyism, and not something more.

"No, no, trust me. I pulled- well, I can pull some strings to get you a new job... of sorts. I want you on the supply ship that travels from the mainland to the Boiling Rock." he told the Lieutenant, whose eyes widened.

"Wait... you're going to break someone out of the most secure prison in the Fire Nation?" he asked him with a tone of utter disbelief, almost about to laugh, as if it were a joke; after a few moments, he realised it wasn't a joke, and his face straightened, realising what he was being ask to do.

"Yes." Zuko confirmed, "Well, technically, I'm not breaking anyone out of prison. They're breaking themselves out of prison, I just need someone on the other side to ensure that they get here safely." he stressed; he could trust Suki of all people to get herself out of the Boiling Rock, all the Prince needed to do was provide her with some intelligence.

"How is someone going to break themselves out of prison?" he asked the Prince, who chuckled.

"Well, let's just say the Warden of the Boiling Rock may unintentionally aid in a prisoner's escape."

Jee's eyes widened with shock, tensing his hands on the bar while Zuko drank down some of the drink he was offered; he realised that it must have been some kind of bajiu, and quickly decided to limit his level of drinking.

"The Warden? I've heard about that guy. Supposedly used to run the Capital City Prison; never has had an escape under his tenure, not one." he recalled, the Prince smirking at him.

"Well I looked over the records, and recognised some familiar names in the Warden's file; he's my friend Mai's uncle, and I asked her, and she said she'd be willing to help me send a message." he explained, the Lieutenant looking at him with confusion, taking a sip from his drink before doing a double take.

"Who exactly is in the Boiling Rock? I know for a fact it isn't General Iroh." he asked, the Princes sighing, imagining Suki's face in his mind, the image making him want to clench at his chest, feeling a sense of longing that only seemed to grow more intense with time.

"It's my girlfriend." he told him, Jee's eyes widening, before he covered his mouth, looking as if he was about to break down into a fit of laughter.

"Girlfriend?" he asked, just to be sure, Zuko rolling his eyes before nodding to assure him; the Lieutenant snickered, pointing at him with one hand while the other held his drink, "Now this is a story I need to hear." he admitted, "General Iroh was always into love songs. He kept prodding us about our own romances, but you know, of all the love stories I'd like to hear, this has got to be on the top." he admitted, the Prince sighing.

"It's a long story." he acknowledged, the Lieutenant looking down into his drink.

"I've got time. Trust me, I'd rather hear this than go back to the shitty military apartment I got allocated." he assured him, to which he shrugged his shoulders, accepting the fact he could get away with speeling his whole story to Jee, if only to get an opinion from someone other than his uncle.

"Sure, it all began with me nearly drowning." he set the scene, the Lieutenant shaking his head.

"No. This isn't he way to start a story. It's got to have more of a build up. Start with... uh- however you got banished." he suggested, the Prince looking at him with shock; he realised that Jee had never heard how he had ended up on his quest for the Avatar.

"Oh, well, that's- uh- a bit of a jump." he admitted, realising the weight his banishment still held over him, despite the fact that any logically thinking person would be far more fearful of the sea after nearly having drowned, all alone, thinking that everyone else he had known for the past three years was dead, "There was a war meeting, like any other, except for the fact I was invited." he began, Jee nodding along with interest.

"And you told the whole pack of old generals that they were a bunch of morons?" he asked, guessing where he was going, making the Prince chuckle to himself.

"Uhh..." he mumbled awkwardly, unsure how to respond, "A little less extreme than that, but you're on the right track." he admitted, before sighing, thinking about what he had said before the war council, "One of the generals proposed to use new recruits as bait for an earthbender division, meaning that they'd most likely be slaughtered. The forty-first division." he clarified, before his eyes narrowed, "I declared that his plan was a betrayal of those soldiers, and the Fire Lord demanded I participate in an Agni Kai to prove my honour."

Jee's eyes widened, "So wait- that scar- it's from an Agni Kai...

Zuko nodded in confirmation, before the Lieutenant furrowed a brow, "With that general?" he asked, the Prince shaking his head.

"If I had actually fought that general, even if I was thirteen, I would have thrashed him, and I believed I would do just that. However, I didn't face the general- I faced my father." he explained, the Lieutenant reeling back, looking at him with utter shock.

"Th-the Fire Lord, he did that?" he asked as he indicated to the scar that covered his left eye, the Prince nodding, before deciding to continue.

"Yes, he did. I begged for mercy, and asked for his forgiveness, but he saw it as cowardice." he explained, touching his scar instinctively upon thinking about how he received it, "I was banished from the Fire Nation, unable to return unless I captured the Avatar."

"Wh-why did you return?" he asked the Prince, "Your father, he did that to you. If my father had done that to me, I don't know if I ever could have come back home." he acknowledged, the Prince sighing, before he curled his lips, thinking about what he actually had intended in returning home to the Fire Nation.

"I did say I wasn't committing treason... yet."

* * *

The colour of the torches that sat in the hallway outside her cell gave it a dull orange hue as she sat down, resting herself after completing her nightly exercises; Suki was confident to say that she was more than capable of beating off any of the guards if need be. She didn't have an escape plan, but even without one, if the opportunity arose, she was ready to take it; the sound of the other prisoners around her wasn't very loud and everyone seemed to be either asleep or doing the same thing she was- thinking. There was a lot of time for her to think when all she could do was train, sleep, and sometimes tolerate the meals she was given at the prison; Suki thought the food she was given on the ship to the Fire Nation was fair bit better, but she assumed that was because she was afforded the same rations as the sailors rather than the meagre supplies that were given to the prisoners on a daily basis. Quantity-wise it was good enough to keep her physically active and fit, but she was more than ready to break herself out of prison if only to get something better to eat for a change. She heard the sound of footsteps outside her cell, Suki instinctively raising her head to look up; a few moments later she heard a clunking noise on her door; someone was opening her cell, although why, she did not know. She hadn't done anything to aggravate the guards on the Warden; she had done her best to be a model prisoner. Following orders without question, not speaking unless spoken to; although she did not like being the obedient prisoner, it was the best way to assure no unwanted attention came her way.

When the door opened, it revealed a female guard, most of whose face was covered by the "Suki, leader of the Kyoshi Warriors?" the guard asked her; she nodded in confirmation, the guard pulling a scroll out from behind her back.

"This is a message from the Warden. I don't know what he wants with you, but I guess you must be important." the guard mused, making Suki curl her lips slightly; know one probably knew about her relationship with Zuko, which was an advantage on her side- they just thought she was just some Earth Kingdom soldier who was captured when fighting against the Fire Nation.

"Huh." the Kyoshi Warrior feigned surprise, "Just curious, did he say why he was giving me, a prisoner, a message?" she intrigued herself, genuinely interested why she'd be getting a message from the warden.

The guard shrugged her shoulders, not seemingly fussed by the warrior's intentions, handing her the scroll, "Something about owing his brother-in-law a favour."

She grasped the scroll, before putting in in her belt, "Thanks, I guess." she tried to act as inconspicuous as possible, the guard turning her heels and stepping out of the door.

"Don't try anything." she warned her, the Kyoshi Warrior standing back, letting the guard close the door and lock it once more; she momentarily eyed Suki before leaving her alone in her cell with the message.

She unfurled the scroll and looked at it, "Hi, Suki." she read out the first line, realising that she was reading Zuko's handwriting.

"Zuko..." she touched the scroll with her other hand, realising where it had come from; she missed him sorely, and was unsure what had happened to him after whatever that guard on the ship had mentioned happening in Ba Sing Se.

Now reading the words in her mind rather than aloud, she continued along, "You're going to escape the Boiling Rock. I have a friend by the name of Lieutenant Jee that I will be inserting on the supply ship who will act as a contact to ensure you can get off the island safely. You will have to make your way out of the prison yourself, but I trust you to figure out that part yourself. The next supply ship will arrive in two weeks time, and when it does, you will need to leave the prison in the dead of night, to ensure you can sneak on the ship before it leaves port." she read out his directions, her eyes widening at the words.

She was going to break out of the Boiling Rock; she had no idea how she'd do it yet, but she realised that if Zuko had someone waiting for her on the other side, meaning that she could most certainly get out of the prison if she could just escape via the gondola. The Kyoshi Warrior clenched her fists, smirking as she understood what was going on; they were going to be together again, sooner rather than later, and from the sounds of it, he had returned to his place as Crown Prince, something she guessed he was making full use of in achieving his dreams to fix the Fire Nation.

She continued to read the words silently, "Below is a sketch of Jee's appearance that I had completed by an artist who does bounties for the Fire Nation Army. This will ensure that you can make contact with him with utter certainty." she read out, noting a portrait at the bottom corner of the letter, showing the face of a forty-something year old man with greying hair and a distinctive pair of sideburns; she then continued along, seeing Zuko's handwriting suddenly become a lot sloppier, "I want to see you again, so bad. I can't wait until you are freed. If your escape fails, you should not worry. I will still free you, even if I have to do it myself. I swear I will. I love you Suki, and I hope you can still care for me after leaving you in such a horrible place."

She felt tears running down her cheeks, placing a hand over the writing, which became smudged slightly by her tears, "I love you too." she spoke out loud, as if to be sure in her resolve; they would be together once again, and then they would be able to help the world together.

She rolled the message up, putting it in her belt, wiping the tears from her cheeks; she needed to prepare for her escape, and that would mean she would most likely have to fight some people, and beat them quickly and without restraint. She began to thrust her fists forward as she imitated the forms she did with her fellow warriors; her mind turned to them as well, remembering that they were likely suffering a similar, if not worse fate to herself. She flared her teeth, thinking about how she had failed them as a leader, even if they had saved those villagers from the Fire nation; she would be a better warrior, and a better friend to them, when she could finally break them out of whatever hole they had been thrown in.

"Amari. Nakata. Esumi. Sawa." she spoke their names, as if to remind herself of what she would set out to do; throwing a kick around into her mattress, she imagined herself breaking into the Fire Nation prison that held her friends.

"You will be free... I will restore my honour."

* * *

Looking at her brother sitting by the turtle-duck pond, Azula felt a sense of unease; she was feeling so confident when she returned home, but at that moment, she could only feel a creeping feeling in her gut, like something was wrong. It was an unusual feeling for the usually collected and determined Princess to feel; she had completed her goals- her brother had returned to his rightful place, they were home together, their uncle had found himself in prison for committing the treachery he was truly guilty of. She didn't feel uneasy because of her brother, but because of what she didn't no; Azula didn't deny that she was a paranoid person, but that paranoia usually wasn't over something she couldn't handle. The Avatar was supposedly dead, and she had a tinge of doubt over whether that had occurred; her brother's lightning bolt, however swift, was untested otherwise- he had supposedly used the same ability on Long Feng, who most certainly survived the attack, and had recovered by the time she visited him in his cell. She didn't believe that her brother would intentionally let the Avatar live; it was against his self-interest to do so, seeing that his return from his banishment hinged on the death of the Avatar. If he was alive, then he was not in the hands of the Fire Nation, and thus Zuko would be a failure; that was something she couldn't let become her reality, not after everything she had done, everything she had sacrificed, all in the name of her brother's honour.

Instead of her addressing him, as it would be per usual her arrival in the garden, he looked to her with a seemingly suspicious glare, "Azula, what's wrong?" he asked her, the Princess gulping, realising that he could see right through her; she didn't think her unease was visible, and she was never usually wrong in her assumptions.

"Nothing, brother." she assured him, walking up toward him as he fed the turtle-ducks; the creatures were immediately made alert by her presence, although they didn't flee, but became averse, moving away slightly as she neared, "Back to feeding the turtle-ducks. Brother, you sure are predictable some times..." she chided him, making him snicker.

"Well, I find it calming. You should try it some time." he suggested, making her tense up, realising that she had already accepted his suggestion, although she would never admit it.

She had actually tried it, although not because she found it calming, but because it reminded her of Zuko; she'd even shoot out a fireball to pretend to kick him into the water, and imagined the argument she would have with him. Now that he was sitting before her, she didn't actually want to kick him into the water, as funny as it would be; she just wanted to try and talk to her brother, because that is what she had come there to do. She knew that his fate was decided by whether the Avatar lived or died in Ba Sing Se, so she knew she ought to discuss it, somehow.

"Brother, I wanted to know what you and father discussed." she lied, his brow raising at her with suspicion; whether it was because he saw through her fake intent or not, she didn't know, "I'm serious."

"Oh, we talked about how I gained the skill of lightning generation... and how I killed the Avatar." he told her, the Princess noticing the slight unease when he uttered his deed; perhaps he had the same doubt she had, although she doubted he would express it- he was too proud, and so was she.

"Well, I discussed other things with father." she acknowledged, "About my actions before Ba Sing Se." she furthered, Zuko raising a brow at her.

"Oh..." he mumbled, thinking about their prior discussions on what she had done, "So, did he get angry at you for committing treason?" he asked her bluntly, the Princess looking at her brother aghast.

"I could ask you the same thing, Zuzu. You still did what you did on Kyoshi island." she stressed, the Prince shrugging his shoulders.

"Father didn't care." he told her, the Princess's hands trembling upon hearing those words.

"What..." she made a confused look, to try and hide her feeling of utter dread; maybe his actions were excusable, given the results, but she didn't know what was going on in her father's mind when it came to her brother, "He didn't care?"

"I guess because you killed Zhao, my treachery could be repainted; he can't argue against it when he's dead, can't he?" Zuko almost joked, making her tense up; her brother was being completely serious.

"Well, he can't, you're right, brother." she agreed with his point, looking away, trying to make sure he couldn't see her face, "But... Zuzu, if father only denies your treachery because of your victory..." she began to mumble, unsure if she wanted to finish the sentence, but to her luck, he did it for her.

"Then I would be a traitor if my victory wasn't real." he finished, the Prince looking at her with a serious, but calm face, "I know, Zula. I'm not worried." he assured her, Azula scoffing at his confidence.

"You're not? You're Zuko. You're always worried." she denied his words as lies, making him chuckle.

"I'm not worried about this issue." he assured her, the Princess looking on with a mix of awe and fear.

"Why?" she asked him, sitting down beside him, genuinely wanting to hear why.

"You know to be a good strategist, you should predict all possible outcomes, right?" he asked her, the Princess nodding in confirmation; of course she knew it, she was the one who told him that.

"Well, I realised how I can win, no matter the outcome of this situation." he told her, the Princess's eyes widening.

"Wh-what? How can you win if father throws you out again to hunt for the Avatar?" she asked him, trying to make her voice sound as callous and serious as possible.

"He won't." he told her, in a voice that was far too assuring.

"He won't?" she repeated his words accusingly, "Do you realise like how much of an arrogant moron you sound like?"

Her brother looked at her, "What's wrong, Azula?" he asked her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you suicidal, is that it? Do you want our father to strike you down?" she asked him, making him scoff, shaking his head and giving her a face so sympathetic it made her want to belch; Zuko couldn't really care about how she felt- she was a monster, she didn't deserve his sympathies.

"I don't want to die, Zula." he assured her, before looking back out to the pond, "I want to live, more than ever."

She looked at her brother wide eyed, unsure how to respond; he was so confident, so sure and certain that he would win. She was once the role model for him, but now the tables were turned; he was everything that she wanted to me. Cool, confident and more than anything determined; she had thought her brother to be stubborn, but that was a misinterpretation; he wasn't hitting his head on the wall over and over again, expecting it to break, he was knocking that wall down with power and precision.

His hand was on her shoulder again, "What's wrong?" he repeated his words; he was starting to remind her of uncle, and to her utter dread, not in a bad way.

His voice was calm, and he seemed to be genuinely caring for her feelings; she realised at that moment, that Zuko didn't care about their father, he didn't care about what he would do to him if the Avatar was alive. He cared about her- winning wasn't about any damn war, or the Avatar, or even the throne- it was about her. That was despite how much of a horrible sister she was at times; she tried to show him that she was the better sibling, but to her frustrations, he never understood that she wanted to better him. She didn't want someone lesser than her to cower at her feet and beg for her appreciation, she wanted an equal who could respect her as such.

"Why?" she asked him, turning her face away, trying to make herself angry so she wouldn't feel the bittersweet taste that had filled her heart upon hearing those words, "Why do you even care? You shouldn't." she stood up, beginning to pace herself away, even though part of her told her to stay.

"Azula! Wait!" he pleaded, standing up and following after her; she wasn't trying hard enough to leave, and he soon grabbed a hold of her wrist, "I don't want you to hate me."

Her eyes widened, still looking away from him; she knew she felt the same. She had always felt the same; she didn't want to admit it. Why else would she try and spar with Zuko, try and make him the better heir when she could have just as well let him continue to remain the unwanted son, and then the banished prince. She could have been Crown Princess, but she chose to honour her brother. But calling something honour was just a mask, something to make it sound all righteous and proper; it was really love, and she never wanted to acknowledge it. She wouldn't say it to his face, that she cared for him, and she wanted to protect him, and she bore hate toward her father, the man who had raised her and shaped her into the ultimate Princess, because of his callous and spiteful treatment of her brother.

"I don't hate you, brother." she admitted, before turning away, "And I shouldn't. You have achieved your victory. You have regained your honour."

He walked up to stand beside her looking at her with an almost sad stare, "My honour means nothing." he admitted, the Princess looking to her brother, fearing what he might say next.

"That's a lie." she dismissed his words, knowing them to be nonsensical.

"No it is isn't." he told her; she looked into his eyes for a few moments, the silence and warm, but serious glare of her brother told her that he wasn't lying.

"Your desire to regain your honour is what drove you here, was it not?" she asked him, implicitly stating her words as the fact; she was disproven when he shook his head.

"No, I seek to bring honour to the Fire Nation." he corrected her, the Princess's eyes narrowing; that was better than what she feared he might say, and she was about to sigh with relief, before he continued to speak, "I came back because I want to fix things." he clarified, before placing a hand on his shoulder, "I'm sorry, Azula."

Those words rung true to what she had told him, when she thought herself to blame for his Agni Kai with their father; that sense of guilt did not leave her, it only festered as the years went by. As much as she focused on her training, on becoming the perfect heir, the consequences of her actions would not leave her; Zuko did not return to his rightful place, and she continued to await him. She was unsure if he would ever return, and when he defeated Zhao in an Agni Kai, she felt so happy to think that he had redeemed himself in some way, even if their father didn't end his banishment then and there.

"You're sorry? For what? For being stupid and nearly ruining your life because of it?" she asked him, the Prince taken aback by her sharp words; he actually nodded in response, confirming her suspicions.

"Yes. But not just that, I am sorry for not being a good brother. For being selfish and ignorant, and allowing something like our mother to divide us." he admitted, making her step back; now he was stepping over a line he ought to avoid as much as he should have avoided speaking out in that war meeting.

"She did this to us." she declared, wanting so badly to square the blame on her mother.

"No, they both did." he retorted, "But that doesn't matter, because this isn't about what mother and father have done, it's about what I can do." her eyes widened, trying to step back, to get away from what he might say; she didn't want to hear it, she never wanted to hear it, "I love you, Azula." he told her, the Princess turning her heels at once, knowing she had to get away before she did something improper.

"No you don't."


	43. The Prison Break and the Beach, Part 1

_Princess Azula sighed, seeing her brother sitting out by the pond with the turtle-ducks- again; she couldn't count how many times she had seen him there in the past month, but from her memory, it would seem like he spent more time there than he did training his firebending. She considered throwing a fireball at his head to catch his attention, but decided she wasn't in the mood to see her brother's phoenix-tail on fire- again; she had accidentally lit it on fire when they were sparring a few days prior, and Zuko didn't get over it until she offered to lend him some of her hair product that her servants applied to her scalp every morning. He called it girly, and she had quipped back by telling him that he'd like it; she was right, of course, making him both annoyed at and appreciative of her at the same time._

_She approached his side, his head moving to acknowledge her presence, before she decided to speak her mind, "What's the point of sitting out here, Zuzu?"_

_"It's relaxing." he told her in a rather terse statement, seeming uneasy with talking about it._

_"I think you're just being a baby who wants his mummy back." she crossed her arms, telling him the blunt truth as she saw it; after a moment's silence, the Prince slammed his hands down into the stone tiles below him._

_"Are you trying to start a fight? Do you want me to set your hair on fire for a change?" he asked her, his words an obvious reference to what she had done to him, but his tone indicating that he was more than willing to do so._

_"No. I just wanted to tell you to grow up." she quipped, Zuko's glare unrelenting as he stared back at her, glowing with hatred._

_"Shut up! You're only ten! You can't just tell me what to do!" he declared, standing up to face his sister, "You think you're so smart and good at firebending? What do you think would happen if father died?" he asked her, giving her a moment to try and respond._

_"W-well, I wou-" she began to formulate an answer, only to be cut off by her brother's angry and vicious voice._

_"You'd have no one! Just like me!" he declared, the Princess's eyes widening; she didn't expect to anger her brother so much- her words had caused him to break into an unbridled fury._

_"You act like I need anyone." she crossed her arms defiantly, making him clench his fists as he approached her, looking ready to throw a punch; she'd be ready of course, but she decided to let him near, just to see what he'd say- curiosity would be the death of her, surely._

_"You think you're so tough, huh, Zula?" he flared his teeth at her, raising his hands into the air, "You're just trying to act like you didn't want what I had. Mother didn't treat you as well as me, and you wanted it, didn't you?!"_

_She snarled, not appreciating her brother's comments; she didn't want to think about their mother, and her treatment of her, or whether it was justified or not, "Shut up! I don't care about her, and neither should you!" she declared, Zuko placing his hands on her shoulders, shaking her, as if to try and rattle the truth out of her._

_"Why?! Why?!" he demanded an answer, the Princess pulling herself free and thrusting an open palm into his chest, forcing him back._

_"Because she left us, Zuzu." she told him, "She left us alone... with him. And he's all we've got now. That's why you need to grow up." she told him, scowling as she thought about her mother leaving; as much as she disdained her, she didn't want her to leave, not when it made her father so much harsher and unrelenting in his will to shape them into the 'ultimate heirs', her far more than Zuko at that._

_"What? So I have to be what father wants me to be?" he asked her, still angry, but she could hear the curiosity in his voice._

_"Yes." she told him, pointing a finger square on his sternum, "You can't be a weakling, Zuzu." she demanded, the Prince's eyes widening._

_"I'm not a we-" he tried to argue in his favour, making her push her finger harder, forcing him to step back._

_"If father says so, it's true. So you are." she declared; she ought to be prideful in her voice, but she was more worried, realising that her brother was a misstep away from being beaten or worse by their easily aggrieved father._

_"Why do you care anyway?" he asked with a spiteful tone, "All we do is fight. Don't you want me gone?"_

_Her eyes widened, realising she'd have to respond; she didn't want to sound weak, knowing she ought to be the daughter her father wanted her to be, but the sense of attachment she felt toward her brother was enough to make her want him around, "No."_

_"No? Really, why? So you can torment me for the rest of my life?" he asked her, making her snicker; as much as she would enjoy prodding her brother for all time, that was not her reasoning, but she knew she couldn't be honest._

_"Well, yes. You're so fun to play with, brother." she curled her lips; if any other ten year old said that to another child, it'd be a compliment, but coming from her, it was telling him that she found him like a toy, which wasn't true even if she did enjoy messing around with him._

_"You're a horrible sister." he declared, turning around before walking through the courtyard to get away from her; she curled her lips and shouted out a response._

_"You're a stupid brother!" she told him, making him glance once more her way with a scowl, before his face became more calm and serious- he looked quite determined._

_"About that fight. The sparring yard in ten?" he asked her, making her curl her lips; letting her brother express his feelings with firebending was surely going to be a sight to behold._

_"Of course, anything for my favourite brother."_

* * *

Standing beside the railing of the ship he was on, Prince Zuko looked out to the water; he was frustrated that he had been forced on a vacation by his father on the weekend in which he expected Suki to be rescued from the Boiling Rock, but he knew he couldn't refuse. The Crown Prince wasn't meant to be doing anything other than loyally serving his father, and to act like anything else was the case would raise suspicion from his father, something that he didn't want to do. He was with Azula, Ty Lee and Mai, the four of them on a boat heading to Ember Island, which was about a days trip from the Fire Nation Capital; they had left the night prior, and now they were nearing the island itself, Zuko feeling tense as he realised he'd been in close contact with his sister, who had been angry with him since their confrontation at the turtle-duck pond. She hadn't sparred with him once, and had seemingly been avoiding him when he had been walking around the palace. She had been standing beside Ty Lee on the seat at the front of the vessel, which was being led by a sea lion, but had momentarily left them, presumably to go to the toilet.

The acrobat slid across the railing, making a rather loud whisper, gritting her teeth to try and seem inconspicuous, when she clearly wasn't, "Zuko, what's wrong with Azula?"

He raised a brow at her, realising there were a number of answers to that single question, "Well, do you mean in general, or right now?"

Ty Lee rolled her eyes, seeing his question as redundant, as she had clearly been referring to what was wrong with her at that moment, "Right now." she clarified with a rather annoyed tone, making Mai snicker behind her.

"She's..." he began, realising he had to phrase it in a way that wouldn't end up with Azula beating him up for revealing sensitive details to anyone, even her friends, "She's angry at me." he acknowledged, the stoic girl raising a brow at him with a slightly bemused voice.

"Oh really, we never would have guessed." she sarcastically remarked.

"I just want to know why." the acrobat furthered, her eyes narrowing at him, "What did you say to get her aura this..." before she turned to the girl behind her, "No offense- Mai-like."

She shrugged at the comparison, "None taken. I'm the silent and emotionless one around here, there's no space for two of us." she suggested, obviously jokingly, making Ty Lee chuckle, before her face returned to a more serious form.

"But yeah, what did you say?" she intrigued herself, the Prince sighing before looking out to the water.

"I told her the truth." he simply put it; a few moments later she made a response in a rather confused voice.

"The truth. About what? Did you find out the meaning of life, Zuko?" she asked her, making him snicker, turning back to face her with a smug smile.

"Funnily enough, I did find it out, but no, that's not the kind of truth I'm talking about." he clarified, making the acrobat move along her seat to get closer to him.

"Okay, so the truth about..." she left her sentence open, specifically allowing him to finish it.

There was a pause of awkward silence for a few seconds, before he sighed, realising he'd have to say something, "How I feel about her." he told her, making Ty Lee raise a brow.

"W-wait, so how you feel about Azula..." she raised a finger to her chin, before her eyes widened, looking almost like she was going have a fit of fear, "What did you say?!" she shouted at him, shaking his shoulders.

"I can't tell you." he bluntly admitted, Ty Lee looking like she was about to pass out, her face flustered; it turned out that she was very eager and determined to find out what he said.

"Why not?!" she shook his shoulders once more, making his eyes narrow at her, considering the consequences of him telling her.

"Because I don't want to be on the receiving end of a lightning bolt." he conceded, the acrobat glaring at him before letting go of his shoulders.

"Ty Lee, what are you doing?" he heard an all too familiar voice to the right of them, both of them glancing to notice Azula standing before them, glaring at both of them suspiciously.

"Uh- nothing." she assured the Princess, before returning to where she had been standing prior

Zuko tensed up as his sister approached him, eyeing him for a moment, "Zuzu, you aren't spreading rumours, are you?" she asked him in clarification, the tone of her voice indicating she was a misstep away from literally throwing him overboard.

"I'm trying to avoid that. But a certain someone is rather... keen, to find out something." he eyed Ty Lee, who tensed up, realising that the Princess's anger might be directed toward her instead.

"Ty Lee, stop being nosy. We're nearly there, and it'd be a shame to have to throw both you and my brother overboard." she warned, the acrobat nodding profusely, trying her best to look assuring.

"Of course." she acknowledged, before Azula began to lean on the railing beside her; when she began to face the sea, the acrobat turned her eyes to the Prince, narrowing them as if to indicate she would still find a way to find out what he had said.

Zuko sat down next to Mai, who momentarily looked his way before making a fake yawn, "This must be serious." she acknowledged, making him sigh in response, placing a hand on his cheek as he looked at the back of his sister's head.

"Everything's serious these days." he admitted, before Ty Lee beamed.

"Not Ember Island, though! I'm so excited that we're just going to go hang out on the beach and do absolutely nothing" she exclaimed, placing her hands behind the back of her head.

"Do nothing?" he asked her, "I mean, honestly, I have better things to do." he acknowledged, making His sister turn her head and raise an eyebrow at him.

"Like what, brother?" she asked him, her tone sounding equally curious and intimidating.

"Being Crown Prince." he suggested, knowing that in truth, there was a benefit of them going to Ember Island over remaining in the palace; without their father looming over him, he might have the opportunity to let his sister open up and express her feelings.

He didn't have much time, knowing that there was the eclipse coming up, when the Avatar, who was most certainly alive, was intending to lead an invasion of the Fire Nation; that would be the point at which he would have to act, and depending on how his sister left Ember Island, he'd have pretty good idea where that day would be going.

* * *

Looking at the quaint Ember Island abode of her two tutors, Princess Azula sighed; she was royalty, and royalty deserved better than some rustic beach bungalow that was home to two old women. She didn't even know if there would be enough space for them to sleep in; the moment she had made sight of the house, she knew it would be nothing like her family's beach house which she used to go to. She actually liked that house, and even would consider to hold the memories she had there to some regard, but they wouldn't go there now. Not after everything that had happened; it had been six whole years since they had stayed they, and she unsure if anyone else had been since. She doubted her father would have gone there, and Zuko had been banished the entire time. Her mind shifted from her old beach house to their current accommodation as Ty Lee began to point something out.

"Who are these two beautiful women?" she asked Lo and Li, who stood in front of the painting, imitating the pose of the two women.

They exclaimed their identities as the two women in the painting at the same time, making her cringe; she heard her brother beside her, sounding as if he were about to belch.

"I didn't need that image in my head." she complained, Mai rolling her eyes and nodding in agreement.

"I think everyone thinks that too, especially, Zuko. Are you okay?" she asked the Prince, who covered his mouth, looking wheezy.

"Uh, y-yeah... I'm fine." he assured her, before the group was led by Lo and Li into what she assumed was their bedroom for the weekend.

Ty Lee jumped onto a bed that she immediately found to her liking, grinning brightly as she examined the patterns, which honestly looked like they belonged in some little girls room, in the Princess's eyes, "Ooh, I love the seashell bedspread."

Mai raised a brow sceptically, "Are you serious? It looks like the beach threw up all over it."

Zuko openly laughed at her words, making both her and the Princess look at him with surprise, the Prince furrowing a brow, confused by their reactions, "What? I thought that was funny."

"Of course you did." she rolled her eyes, "Some times I think nearly drowning made my brother go insane." she sighed, making Mai snicker.

"That would explain a lot." she mused, making the Prince clench his fists, frustrated by their suggestion that he was anything but mentally acute.

"Hey! I'm not crazy. I just have a sense of humour, isn't that right, Ty Lee?" he tried to catch the acrobat's attention, raising her head from the bed.

"I mean it wasn't that funny. I though it was pretty mean. These are nice bedsheets." she patted the fabric she laid upon, making him roll her eyes; it seemed he could never win- she knew that from experience, with a few exceptions, of course.

Her two tutors looked at them with faces that showed their interest, and seemingly gauging the mood of the group, they decided to begin speaking; she was in no mood for a pep talk, but she knew best to just let the old women drone on.

"We know you're upset that you were forced to come here this weekend." Li told them, making Azula snicker upon thinking about her words.

She was, and she guessed Zuko was too, although she had been avoiding speaking with her brother for reasons that were obvious to them both; Mai had tagged along because he had nothing better to do, and Ty Lee invited herself on their weekend holiday. The acrobat was only one in the group that seemed ot have a positive attitude, but that didn't surprise the Princess in the slightest, seeing that she always had a positive attitude.

"But Ember Island is a magical place." Lo continued on from her sister, "Keep an open mind."

"Give it a chance."

Then the two siblings spoke in unison, "And it can help you understand yourselves and each other." making both Zuko and Azula instinctively look at each other; she looked away, but she could still feeling his hawkish eyes on her, making her feel uneasy, a feeling that she had grown comfortable to know in his presence.

Lo picked up a rock from the table in the centre of the bedroom, showing it to them, "The beach has a special way..." before she handed the rock to her twin sister.

"... of smoothing even the most ragged edges."

Azula sighed, not sounding impressed at all with their words; she didn't care for any kind of enlightenment or whatever they expected her to find there. She was perfectly content with messing around on the beach for two days before they went home back to the Capital and she could return to cold-shouldering Zuko until he decided to act like less of a scarily determined version of their uncle.

"Let's hit the beach!" the twins declared, pulling that their waistbands, dispensing themselves of their robes and showing off their swimwear and revealing their disturbing looking bodies.

If there was one thing she wanted to never bask her eyes upon again, it was what she saw before her; her brother looked away, disgusted, before raising his head, moving his long hair out of his face, "So, are we going, are you three going to keep staring at them?"

She shook her head, "Certainly not." she dismissed his jestful words, before grabbing Ty Lee by the wrist, "Come on, Ty, let's get changed into our swimwear. You chose mine, remember?" she asked her, the acrobat beaming.

"Yeah I did! I'm sure you're going to love it." she exclaimed, the Princess raising a brow sceptically at her.

"I am unsure whether I should trust your taste." she admitted openly, before sighing, "But I really couldn't care less. As long as I'm wearing something, I will tolerate whatever it is." she stressed, as if to imply her friend don't force her out on the beach practically nude.

"Don't worry, it's pretty modest." she lead her over to her bag, pulling out a red swimsuit that covered her chest and legs quite modestly, at least compared to Ty Lee, who had a revealing white swimsuit that was more tight fitting than her own.

She took the swimsuit, and nodded at her friend with approval, "Yes. This will do." she accepted it, making the acrobat beam tightly, grinning as she put her arms up close to her face, almost looking like she was about to have a fit."

"Now! Go put it on! I need to make sure it fits!" she declared, the Princess rolling her eyes before walking over to the bathroom to go change into her outfit.

She quickly dispensed of her clunky and long royal robes, and replaced them with her loose fitting but still complementing swimwear, much lighter on her than her other clothes, making her curl her lips at the acrobatics she'd be able to do. She'd been wanting to prove herself against Ty Lee for some time, and being at the beach would give her a great opportunity to do so. Stepping out of the bathroom, she put one hand on her hip and raised another to head, looking at her friend with a smug grin.

"How do I look?" she asked her, to which she received two thumbs up and a grin.

"Like a princess! But not like a princess princess. You're already a princess princess Like a beach princess." she waved her hands to up to clarify, making Azula roll her eyes; the bubbly girl had a way with words, truly- she didn't need to use fancy long ones to get a point across succinctly.

"Now, get changed. We need to get down to the beach so we can show we are the greatest teenagers on this whole island." she curled her lips, earning a sceptical look from Mai, who was still rustling through her bag to pull out her swimsuit.

"Good luck with that." she sarcastically told her, as if to imply she was trying to overachieve on something that meant relatively nothing compared to the things she usually dealt with; she would have nothing less- Princess Azula would be the best at everything she did, because that was her destiny.

She sat down in the room, sitting across from her brother who was waiting to be able to enter the bathroom so he himself could get changed; his eyes were darting about the room, seemingly bored, not surprising her in the slightest. He was the kid of person who would become restless without a goal in mind, and Zuko, he was one of those people; Azula was too, and that was exactly why she had decided she wanted them to become the greatest teenagers on Ember Island. She would beat people at beach sports, she would be the prettiest, and they would be respected; that is what she desired out of her time at the beach, paralleling with her own thoughts about her role as Princess. She didn't want to overthink that aspect at all, knowing it would bring her back to thinking about her conversation with Zuko, which she had been trying to push to the deepest recesses of her mind, if she didn't forget the incident completely. Azula didn't know how to forget things, that was a problem she seemed to haunt her more than others in her life; she couldn't forget what her father did to Zuko, just like how she couldn't forget what her brother said to her.

She was snapped out of her train of thought by the man himself, her brother clearing his throat as he stood beside her, "Are you ready to go down to the beach?" he questioned, a relatively simple and uncomplicated question for him to ask of her.

She curled her lips, trying to seem as confident as possible, "Of course, Zuzu. We've going to show these beach-bums who is boss." she cracked her knuckles, glaring up at her brother, who was slightly uneasy upon witnessing her attitude; it seemed that his mask of overt confidence was beginning to crack, as they had left the Fire Nation capital, far away from peering eyes, and their father.

"Yeah. We'll do that." he acknowledged, agreeing with her, if only to try and seem more assuring rather than passive; she knew he didn't care about Ember Island or their holiday- there was obviously more pressing things on his mind.

Ty Lee stepped out of the bathroom a moment later, dressed in her swimwear, which as she had guessed, was quite revealing, but still elegant looking, "How do I look?" she asked the pair, Azula awkwardly remaining silent when she considered what she ought to say; honesty mightn't be the best path to ensuring Ty Lee remained in a positive mood, which despite how annoying it was at times, would be far better than a gloomy Ty Lee.

Her brother decided to speak before she did, "You look great, Ty Lee." he gave her a smile, to the Princess's surprise; her brother usually wasn't that nice to anyone, when she came to think about it.

"Now, I need to go get changed." he admitted, sidestepping past Ty Lee to go walk into the bathroom; the acrobat moved on closer to her, sitting down beside her with an intrigued glance- whatever she had been discussing on the boat was on her mind, but Azula wouldn't give up any secrets, especially those concerning what was going on between the royal siblings.

"So... are you feeling- uh- good to go to the beach?" she asked her, making the Princess raise a brow at her friend.

"Well, I'm not in a bad mood, if that's what you were thinking." she acknowledged, even if her words were only a half-truth; she didn't feel bad in the same way that a gloomy, sad eleven year old Zuko did when their mother left, she felt more uneasy and anxious, and she wanted to replace those feelings with one's of confidence and determination.

"That's good to hear." the acrobat beamed, before slinging an arm over her shoulder, "There's going to a lot of cute boys at the beach, I already know it." she declared, the Princess curling her lips; as much as she despised it, teen romance was truly a good distraction when she had heavier things on her mind.

"Oh, really?" she raised a finger to her chin with interest, before smirking, "We will have to show our best selves today, Ty. We are the greatest teenagers in the Fire Nation, after all." she declared, her friend furrowing a brow in thought.

"Well, yeah, we are. Who else can take down an entire city when they're not even adults yet?"

"Nobody." Azula firmly stated, although behind her smirk was a feeling of dread; if the Avatar was still alive, it was likely that he and his lackeys might actually attempt their invasion of the Fire Nation, which would be a parallel to what she had done in Ba Sing Se, with a little less stealth and subversion, of course.

"Then let's go down and show them!" she raised a fist, the Princess standing up alongside her friend, curling her lips and placing a hand on her shoulder, knowing that she ought to thank Ty Lee for her attitude.

"Your confidence is not mistaken."

* * *

Looking out of the bars of her cell, Suki curled her lips, knowing that it was time for her to make her escape; Zuko had told her it would be two weeks until the next supply ship, although she assumed there was some delay with his letter, and as she was right. Earlier that day when she had been mopping up the floor in the prison, she had overheard two guards talking about finally getting some fresh food, which she knew meant the supply ship would be arriving that night. She patiently awaited the arrival of an on duty guard, who she could ask for a toilet break from; she would be taken to the toilets, beat up the guard, tie them up and take their uniform. She also realised due to the uniform differences, she ought to wait for a female guard, as their uniforms would likely be far more fitting and less suspicious when she tried to get on the gondola. She decided to spend the time instead of waiting by the door doing some exercises, preparing herself for the inevitable; she would need to beat up at the very least a single guard and make sure they were knocked out before they could alert anyone.

She began by throwing imitative punches, imagining that she was trying to strike someone in the forehead, the best place to concuss them and ensure that they would go out cold; she couldn't knock her opponents down the conventional way, but rather she had to be as agile as possible. Agility was something that the Kyoshi Warriors held in high regard, but it wasn't as vital as quickly understanding an enemies weaknesses; her eyes widened, realising that striking her opponent on the forehead wouldn't work, given that they all wore metal helmets that would protect them from head trauma; she mused that throwing their head into a wall at speed might do it, seeing that the thicker metal walls would stand a better chance of incapacitating them when compared to her swift, but relatively soft fists. She made feigning moves, pretending that she was trying to shock her opponent, distract them with a punch when she was really trying to trip them to throw them into the wall; she curled her lips, thinking her plan would most likely work, assuming that she didn't get caught afterwards.

She heard footsteps outside her cell, quickly moving to the bars to try and see if it were a female guard; to her disappointment it wasn't, the guard eyeing her cell for a moment before moving on. She sighed with frustration, before walking back into her cell, quickly moving into a set that she had been working on; she didn't expect to properly fight any of the guards, but if she really had to fight her way onto the gondola, she would. She had to escape, not just for her own sake, but for the sake of the other Kyoshi Warriors; they were probably in some other prison, somewhere else in the Fire Nation, but she could find them, especially given the fact Zuko was a prince again. He would have access to all the information he'd need to find them; how else could have found out where she was the first place? She mused for a moment that Azula might have mocked him about it, but she doubted the Princess would be so stupid, as it would be in her best interest to keep the two of them apart. Moving through her fighting sets, she quickly began to imagine herself actually fighting other people, taking them down with her fans and fists, throwing them off balance and making a fool of her opponents; she truly enjoyed what she did, but she hadn't actually been in a proper fight in quite a while. The last thing she'd consider a fight that she had was against Azula's guards when they dragged her out of her cell in the Fire Nation compound that she had freed a number of Earth Kingdom labourers from a week or two prior. She then heard footsteps once more, quickly moving herself to the bars to eye out of the cell; to her relief, this time it was a female guard, and she tapped at the bars, knowing she had to get the guards attention.

"What is it?" she asked Suki with a rather disconcerted tone, "Are you sick?" she asked, the Kyoshi Warrior shaking her head.

"No- I- uh- need to go to the bathroom. It's my- uh-" she feigned awkwardness, trying to imply that she might be experiencing something that a fellow woman might understand; the guard nodded with some unease, indicating that was the case.

"I get it." she acknowledged, "I'll take you there... But you better be quick. The Warden will have a fit if we're not all in our positions."

She nodded, the guard opening the door, offering Suki a pair of shackles; she was prepared to beat up the woman before her even if she had her hands shackled- that was the least of her worries, truly. She let her hands be bound, before the guard pulled her out of the cell, the Kyoshi Warrior instinctively glancing back in, feeling that she would not miss the cell she had called her home for a few boring and rather uneventful weeks. Being led along the walkway, she glanced up along, trying to retrace her movements from her cell to the gondolas; she hadn't been up to the top of the prison since she arrived, but she had figured out which paths led up there. Eventually they turned around a corner, leading into a hall that led behind the prison cells; the guard indicated to the door of a room, making Suki nod, understanding she was at the toilet, the guard opening the door for her. She tensed up for a moment realising that she had arrived at the point of no return; stopping her feet, the guard pushed at her shoulder.

"Come on. Go in." she prodded the warrior, who immediately spun around, aiming a shackled hand at the woman's head; she was quick enough to dodge, just as she expected, hooking the shackles behind her head while the Kyoshi Warrior kicked her shin.

The result was the guards head being thrust forward swiftly into the wall, making her grunt in pain, but not cry out, indicating she had been knocked unconscious; the victorious warrior curled her lips, realising her plan had worked, and quickly grabbed the guard by the shoulders, pulling her into the bathroom with her. As soon as they were both in the small bathroom, she quickly grabbed the keys from her belt unshackling herself, before she began to undress the guard. She didn't find it to be awkward in anyway, knowing that she was unconscious and that she needed the uniform to escape; sliding the uniform top off, Suki slid off her own tunic and replace it with the slim fitting armour, before sliding off her pants, replacing them with the skirt of her the guard, which were similarly armoured. The outfit itself looked relatively revealing, at least in her eyes, but she understood that was a necessity given the climate of the prison, being located in the middle of an boiling volcanic lake. She quickly slid the woman's boots off and put them on her feet, and pulled the armguards over her forearms as well, making her like another female guard in the prison. She pulled the helmet off of her head before placing it on her own, obscuring her face and covering her eyes with a visor. She took the shackles she had been forced to wear and turned to use them on her victim, tying her hands behind her back, before using the belt of her former outfit to tie around her mouth, lest she wake up and start screaming. She quickly stepped in and out of the bathroom, closing the door and looking down the hallway, not wanting to seem suspicious. She sighed with relief, realising she was alone in the hallway; she had to be quick, knowing that she was going to catch the gondola up when they began to bring supplies in from the ship.

She began to walk on along the hallway, trying to remember exactly how she'd get up to the top floor; the external staircases might make it out a little too obvious to any guards that might see her. Why would an on duty guard come up to the gondola in the first place? Her uniform was cover, but she planned to avoid being caught. Suki paced herself quickly enough, eventually arriving at a staircase that seemed to climb up to the top of the prison; when she came to walk up it, she found herself caught by a guard, who looked surprised at her showing up at the stairs.

"Oh, what are you doing here? Trying to sneak off to break early?" he asked her, the Kyoshi Warrior feigning surprise.

"Oh, me? I'd never skip watch duty." she assured him with a sarcastic tone, hoping he'd be the joking kind; his laugh in response indicated to her that he at the very least didn't take his job too seriously to try and question her behaviour.

"Don't let any of the Warden's guards catch you slopping off. He'll grill you to no end. I know this from experience." he warned her, making her grit her teeth, trying to make an assuring smile.

"Uh, thanks for the advice." she acknowledged his words, before he walked on down the hallway way from her, letting her walk up the stairs with no issue.

She raced up the stairs as soon as she reached, feeling too uneasy about the potential of running into another guard to slow down; she kept focusing on what she could hear, trying to make out any footsteps that might be heard in the distance. She seriously wanted to avoid getting spotted up by the gondolas, which would most certainly prevent her escape; she slowed down as she realised she was nearing the top of the staircase, leaning up against the wall closest to the top of the stairs to try and listen out for voices. Suki didn't hear anyone nearby, but could make out voices in the distance, obviously the guards who were to be handling the supplies up by the gondolas. The Kyoshi Warrior slowly paced her way up to the very top of the stairs, looking around the exterior roof of the central building of the prison, which contained the guard's quarters, solitary confinement cells and all of the prisons supplies. She had learned only the vague details from overhearing guards talk about the prison itself, which had been a bit of a help when she had been trying to navigate through the prison. She could see the gondola station where they would load and unload the vehicles; glancing up she could see one coming down toward the prison at that very moment, meaning that gondola would be unpacked and leave the prison soon after. Suki quickly approached the gondola station, acting casually, as if she was an actual guard. When the other guards made sight of her, she indicated to acknowledge her presence; for the mean time, she would have to play her part and work with the guards, and when the gondola was to leave, she could sneak aboard.

"Hey, you there. Are you here to help with unpacking all these supplies?" one of the guards asked her, his gruff and serious tone making him sound as if he were a veteran guard.

"Of course sir." she acknowledged him, the guard looking to his fellow guards, crossing his arms.

"You lot ought to learn from her. With experience ought to come respect." he eyed the other guards, who looked uneasy from his glare; she walked over and waited beside them as the gondola came in, ready to analyse the vehicle as to understand where and how she could hide herself on it.

When the gondola slowed down to a halt, the guards readied themselves, "Here's the food, boys and girls." the gruff guard curled his lips, "I've been waiting for something fresh."

One of the other guards licked his lips, "I just want a smell of it. I bet the Warden's got the best dinners and desserts in this prison."

Another guard raised a finger, "He probably does, but I recommend you don't mention it around him. He might think you want to steal it." she suggested to the guard, who shrugged his shoulders, making an aloof face.

"Well, what, I do want to steal it... not saying I will." he suggested, making the other guards laugh at him mockingly. The gondola opened, and she glanced in, looking at all the crates of food that sat in it's frame.

"Come on. Let's take all of this stuff into the stores." the gruff guard told them, all of them nodding along, Suki going along with his orders.

Each of them walked in and began to pick up crates of food, taking them to the pile that was sitting nearby, away from the path of the gondola itself; she eyed the interior of the gondola, realising that there was no guard stationed inside of it, giving her an opportunity to hide in it without getting spotted. She took a few crates of food, placing them down, before pacing back behind the gondola, making sure no one was watching her; there was about six or seven guards working on carrying the crates out, and that meant they'd likely not miss her if she just disappeared. She waited for them to finish up, before the gondola was closed up, one of the guards calling out to whoever was operating the vehicle.

"She's unpacked, send her up!" one of the guards called out, Suki making out a mechanical noise, indicating for her to jump in; she pulled herself up through one of the open windows of the gondola, before splaying herself over the floor, making sure she wouldn't be seen.

All of the guards had began to walk off at that point, chatting amongst themselves, making her sigh with relief as the gondola began to move back up, moving slowly but surely toward the edge of the boiling lake, taking her to safety. She pulled the message she had received from Zuko out of her armour, where she had quickly hidden it to ensure that she still had it on hand, glancing at the portrait in the bottom corner, hoping that she would find Lieutenant Jee before she found herself caught out by the Fire Nation. She sighed, thinking about what might happen to her if she was caught, knowing that even if her boyfriend was completely honest in saying he would personally come to the Boiling Rock to save her, she most certainly did not want to endure any more time locked up in a prison cell.

"This better work, Zuko."


	44. The Prison Break and the Beach, Part 2

_Screaming at the top of her lungs, Azula rose up from her bed, her face and upper body covered in sweat as looked around the room; she had just had a horrific nightmare, a distortion of reality that made her want to throw up. She did just that a few moments later, leaning over her bedside and expelling her stomach of the contents of her dinner. Once she threw up, she stopped screaming, and began to pant, realising how much she had been sweating, how hot her skin was to the touch. She thought for a moment that she had a fever, but realised that it wasn't any ordinary kind of illness. The utter fear that she had felt had made her sick, and it took her a few moments to realise the memories of her dream, although vivid, were already beginning to fade. She unsure whether to be happy or not, thinking over them for a moment; she was at her brother's Agni Kai once more, but in her dream, she chosen to intervene, but it was no use. Instead of her brother being scarred, she was herself, and Zuko was killed by her father when he tried to save her. Covering her face, she wished she had never experienced that dream, but knew it wouldn't simply go away; nothing as intense as that could just disappear. She pulled herself off of the bed, her feet stumbling and her ankle buckling as she realised her balance was off; despite the sick feeling in her gut and the burning sensation in her throat, she was able to make it over to the desk in the corner of her bedroom. She leaned one hand on he desk itself, before using the other hand to tug at the blinds of her bedroom, opening them to let the late night breeze flow into her room; the sun had not risen yet, but she knew that she didn't feel tired anymore, only a sense of shock._

_Sitting down on the chair by her desk, she placed her hands over her face, moving her messy, sweat-laden hair out of her eyes; moving her gaze up to the desk itself, she put one of her fingers over an unlit candle, setting it alight, the flame becoming blue for a moment before it shuddered back to an orange colour. She didn't bother to try and keep bending the flame, only desiring for it to continue lighting up her room. She knew she had to express her thoughts somehow, put them down to paper so they might let her mind rest, instead of being focused on the image of her father killing her brother before her very eyes. Pulling out a piece of parchment that sat on her desk, she immediately grabbed at her brush to write, heating up the bottle of ink with her firebending, although it only grew to a lukewarm temperature before she felt too exhausted to bend; it was abnormal for her to be unable to continuously bend, but then again, she usually didn't wake up in the late night sick and sweating as if she had spent five hours in a sparring session. She began to write down on the paper expressing her thoughts- her father's powerful bending, her feeble attempt to stop him, the cries of her brother, the Fire Lord's booming voice and mocking tone as he burnt her own face._

_The nightmare world she imagined felt just as real as the one she actually lived in, and she felt as if it was a former potential- what could have been, or maybe even a subconscious warning. Was it truly her greatest fear? Her father's reprisal's had never come her way, at least not to the same degree they had come to Zuko, who had lost his title, an eye and his home to her father's anger. She knew it had to be the truth bared before her, as bluntly as it was; the fact it made her throw up made her realise what the fear she truly felt was. Rejection, like what her mother had given her; she had make her feel like she was a monster- like she wasn't even human, like she wasn't worthy of love. Her father treated her like an icon of virtue, someone who should be adored, even if he himself didn't have time for things like love and care; if he disregarded her, threw her away like he did to Zuko, she would have nothing. She would be nothing; unloved and unwanted by anyone- even as she thought to herself, she knew that her brother despised her, feared her, and was jealous of her. She understood why, she wasn't worthy in his eyes, but one day, she hoped to be so; she knew that would be a long time away, when he finally returned home. He had to return home- she didn't know what she would do if she was stuck where she was, the only heir of their father, expected to be perfect in every way possible. Perfection was impossible for her to achieve, she realised that; no perfect princess would throw up in the middle of the night, have a fit of panic over the potentials of life and death, love and hate. She had weaknesses, and she knew they needed to be crushed. Taking the piece of parchment into her hands, she set it alight, the embers of the paper singing her hands; she didn't mind the pain, clenching her fist, shattering the paper and dissolving it into nothing but ash._

_"It will never happen. I am the perfect heir." she declared, as if to assure herself, even if she was still unsure in her mind; if she spoke the words, would they become her truth?_

_They were her truth, because they had to be; she had no choice to think otherwise. There was no alternative; there was no Zuko, uncle, mother- only father. His truth was the only one there could be for Princess Azula, and if she were to ever think otherwise, she would only damn herself to being alone, being uncared for- being nothing to anyone. She would never be nothing, she swore to herself at that very moment, and she knew that, compared to her previous thoughts wasn't a lie; that was a dichotomy of her very being- she was herself, and she would never be that which she feared so much that it made her want to throw up once more._

* * *

Feeling the gondola come to a halt, Suki's eyes widened, realising that she was on the other side of the lake, finally away from the prison she never wanted to call her home, and never intended to; she raised her head, seeing some soldiers approaching with more supplies in hand. She immediately sprung into action, throwing herself over the window to the right, out of the view of her soldiers, landing on the edge of the platform, nearly falling down onto the rocky cliff-face below. Feeling the cold touch of the concrete below made her realise how hot it was in the prison; although she could still feel the heat emanating from the lake below, the ground she laid upon her was contrastively cool in comparison.

She tensed as she heard the soldiers approaching, "Take those crates in right now. We're running on a tight schedule!" she heard a man shout out gruffly, his demands being met by the tapping of feet into the gondola and the sound of crates impacting with the metal surface, making a ever so slight ringing noise as the whole gondola seemed to reverberate beside her.

The Kyoshi Warrior remained still, letting the gondola beside her be filled up with more cargo to be sent down below; she didn't know when she would have the opportunity to make a break for the ship, but she knew that she needed to get around the soldiers that were filling up the gondolas themselves. She peered her head past the front end of the gondola, looking out to see what was going on; Suki made sight of two komodo rhinos pulling a large carriage that was filled few crates, although it looked to be half-emptied by that point. She assumed that the creatures had come up from the docks that lay below the island, which was exactly where she needed to go; she had been there before when she was first being taken to the prison, but she had been too dazed to pay attention to what was going on, as she was shuffled from her cell into a cart that took her uphill to the rim of the caldera and the gondola.

The sound of the soldiers dropping crates and moving about the gondola stopped, and the sound of footsteps moving away became apparent; she realised that she would be in the open when the gondola moved away from the station, forcing her to realise she'd have to hide herself somewhere. She immediately decided to scan down the ledge beside her, hoping there would be some solid ground for her to stand on while the soldiers were still about; she couldn't make out anything accurately, the shadow being cast by the walls of the caldera obscuring whatever ledges sat below. Suki sighed, realising she would need to have to carefully reach down, and try and not slip. She certainly didn't want her escape attempt to end with her slipping and failing into the scalding hot lake below after she had successfully used the gondola to cross the boiling lake.

She pulled her body over the side of the ledge, pulling one leg down to try and feel for the ground below it, which she still couldn't see; when her waist was leaning on the ledge, her weight about to pull her down off the ledge, she was able to make out the feel of some solid ground below her feet; she felt around, narrowing her eyes to notice that the ledge, although still part of the cliff face the gondola station sat on, was wide enough for her to stand or even crouch on. Her eyes brightened, and she almost was about to raise a fist in glee, but contained her happiness, silently pulling her mass down below the ledge, crouching on the ledge while the gondola began to back down toward the prison. She peered over the ledge, eyeing the soldiers, which were returning toward the carriage they had been unpacking of crates; when all of the soldiers had turned away, Suki looked to her right, trying to make out any hiding spots she could take when trying to get past the group; to her luck, it seemed that there was a number of rock formations which she'd be able to climb up or hide behind. Taking a moment to breath in, she vaulted up onto the gondola landing platform once more, before racing up toward the rocky escarpment that sat on one side of the path that cut through the caldera rim.

Reaching the a rock to hide behind, the Kyoshi Warrior listened out for the soldiers, who seemed to be speaking amongst themselves; she couldn't make out anything from their quiet chatter, but their superior's loud and boisterous voice called out clear, "Hurry up! We need to fill this next gondola up fully? Don't you all want to go to bed?!" he asked them, the soldiers all returning the same response in unison.

"Yes sir!" they chanted, Suki eyeing them as they all began to walk over to the the gondola landing platform with crates in hand; with their heads turned away, she moved along the side of the escarpment, making sure she could quickly move from cover to cover behind the various jet black rocks that jutted out of the caldera's rim.

Eventually she made her way clear of the carriage and the soldiers unpacking it, looking down from her current height to make sight of the docks that sat down at the shoreline, a black steel warship sitting by the dock, it's chimneys funnelling smoke into the dark sky above her. The night had only just begun, but it gave her easy cover from peering eyes; her slow crawling pace quickly was replaced by a near sprint as she raced on down the path, not looking back as she eyed the ship below her. If she was lucky, Lieutenant Jee would be awaiting her at the ship, and would ensure she didn't have to try and hide herself somewhere on that ship; she didn't even know where it would be going, let alone if she could successfully hide herself anywhere within its hull.

* * *

Standing in front of the house of the boy he knew to be called Chan, Zuko rolled his eyes, feeling as if he truly didn't want to go to some random teenager's party; Azula was insistent however, and that made him both curious and frustrated. She didn't seem like the kind of person to actually care about things like parties, but her attitude on Ember Island seemed to be rather unusual; it was as if she had transferred her attitudes at home over the top of the teenage social life she would be expected to partake in on the holiday island. His sister knocked on the door in front of them, and a few moments later, lo and behold, the teenager from earlier opened it, looking rather flabbergasted by their appearance.

"Um... you're a little early." he acknowledged, "No one's here yet."

Azula didn't seem to care about his words, pulling her usual confident smirk, although it was less cunning than usual, given the context, "I heard you telling someone you'd be partying from dusk 'till dawn. It's dusk, so we're here." she acknowledged, the teenager before the group looking just as confused.

"But that's just an expression." he narrowed his eyes, his sister still acting insistent despite the obvious screw up she had made.

"We are the perfect party guest. We arrive on time, because we are very punctual." she hammered her right hand into her left palm to stress the point, making him want to snicker; she really wanted to seem confident, despite the fact she was obviously just making things more awkward.

Chan just shrugged at them, indicating that he didn't care that much, gesturing for them to follow in suite into the house, "All right, listen. My dad's an admiral. He has no idea I'm having this party, so don't mess anything up."

Zuko raised a brow, realising the connection with his name; Admiral Chan had been the leader of the Eastern Fleet, which had come east with Azula's coup in Ba Sing Se, taking control of the Eastern Sea, the last portion of the Earth Kingdom coast that wasn't under firm Fire Nation control. The fact he remembered this wasn't overly relevant, but it brought the reality of the world back to his mind; the war was everywhere, and it seemingly ruled the lives of everyone in his nation.

His eyes turned to Azula, who was addressing Chan with a bright smile, almost too extreme to seem natural, reminding him chillingly of the Joo Dee's that the Dai Li had been brainwashing in Ba Sing Se, "That's a sharp outfit, Chan. Careful." she stressed, making her brother gulp, already aware what she might say, "You could puncture the hull of an empire-class Fire Nation battleship, leaving thousands to drown at sea," before she pointed at the outfit, "because it's so sharp."

Zuko's face-palm was in sync with the teen's response, as awkward as any normal person would be expected to after hearing such an absurd compliment, "Um... thanks."

Although he wasn't facing her, the expression from her drooping shoulders, showed him that she was disappointed with the response she received. He followed after her alongside Ty Lee, being greeted by the other boy from the beach, Ruon-Jian.

"Hey! First ones here, huh?" he asked them, the Prince ignoring his words, placing a hand on his sister's shoulder.

"Uh, Zula." he acknowledged her by her childhood nickname, making her raise a brow at him.

"What is it?" she asked him, making him cringe, rubbing the back of his head, unsure if he wanted to give his sister the advice he was about to give her.

"I think you might want to take a different approach if you're trying to... uh- seduce Chan?" he told her, his tone questioning as he finished, unsure if that was her intentions.

His sister blushed and her eyes darted about before she looked back to him, her glare narrowing, "Well- what do you think I should do?" she asked, "I'm already the prettiest and smartest girl in the room, but I can't seem to get him to catch on." she grumbled, making him chuckle, knowing that he probably was as challenged in the romance department as she was; he knew that it was probably pure luck that he had even started his relationship with Suki, and even then, it took a lot of time of getting to know her to do so.

"I'm not experienced with this exact kind of stuff, but from what I know, you should try and act more casual. Don't make absurd compliments like that, and don't say anything... intimidating." he suggested, making her furrow a brow at him, seemingly offended by his comments.

"Oh, intimidating?" she asked him, "I can't help being the confident and powerful woman I am. Are you saying I should be all dopey and feeble to attract men?" she asked him, the Prince shaking his head.

"No of course not. You should be yourself, but don't just... scare them. Me, Ty Lee and Mai are used to how you act, but these teenagers... not so much." he tried to offer advice; despite her still being a bad mood with him, she felt nice enough to pat him on the shoulder.

"Thanks, brother... good luck with your- uh- endeavours." she offered, making him curl his lips; he didn't want to try and hook up with any girls or anything like that.

He was at the party to watch over his sister and her friends. He didn't expect the other two to do anything stupid, but he knew they might get in a bad mood, knowing they all were as new to the whole teenage social scene as each other. As he walked away from his sister, he decided to go over to the balcony of Chan's house, which over looked the water, looking at the twilight sky with a curl of the lips; he used to never appreciate the little things in life, like the beauty of the world, but was glad he had the time to do so. He knew that he was on the cusp of a breakthrough with Azula, and all she needed was a little push; he sighed, feeling a sense of dread, knowing that with how she was acting as soon as they arrived, she would throw herself forward instead of forcing him to 'enlighten' her. He cursed his uncle for being vague with his advice, and knew that if he had been more forward, then perhaps Zuko would have a better way of showing his sister the light; all he seemed to be showing her at the moment was the stupidity of teenage social life.

* * *

Azula realised something watching her friend deal with a bunch of boys by quite literally knocking them over; Ty Lee wasn't very good when it came to boys- she could attract them, sure, but she didn't know how to deal with them. Not that she could say the same for herself, but she knew that the bubbly acrobat wasn't much better. Her friend came up to her, with an uneasy look on her face, obviously feeling overwhelmed by the pressure of being as liked as she was, which only soured Azula's mood further; she wasn't able to get Chan to like her, she was acting more casual, just as Zuko had advised her to, but he wasn't giving her any attention, unlike the boys that were droning over her friend.

"Oh, I'm glad you're here. Those boys won't leave me alone. I guess they all like me too much." she exclaimed, the Princess rolling her eyes at her friend's words.

"Come on, Ty Lee. You can't be this ignorant." she sighed, the acrobat looking at her with interest.

"These boys only like you because you make it so easy for them. You're not a challenge. You're a tease. It's not like they actually care who you are." she told her friend bluntly how she saw it; she realised she might have been slightly harsher than necessary, as Ty Lee began to sob, looking like she was about to bawl her eyes out, "Okay, okay, calm down. I didn't mean what I said." she admitted, knowing that she was feeling frustrated more about Chan and her friend's ability to draw in boys made her feel threatened, "Look, maybe I just said it because I was a little jealous." she whispered the last part, not wanting anyone else to hear her.

Her friend's eyes widened with surprise, "What? You're jealous of me? But you're the most beautiful, smartest, perfect girl in the world."

The Princess turned away from her friend, "Well, you're right about all of those things." she acknowledged, "But, for some reason, when I meet boys, they act as if I'm going to do something horrible to them." she explained her problem, making her friend giggle, obviously finding her words to be an expression of the reality; she might be a harsh and determined person who would do something wrong to someone who wronged her, but she didn't think that ought to get in the way of people liking her.

"But you probably would do something horrible to them." she noted, before curling her lips, "Well, it's not like you haven't gotten the attention of any boys." she suggested, making Azula narrow her eyes at her.

"We're not talking about him." she stressed with a harsh tone, knowing she full well wasn't going to try and seduce any enemies of the Fire Nation, "I'm talking about people like us. Other teenagers at this party."

"Like Chan?" Ty Lee raised a brow, forcing the Princess to nod in confession.

"Yeah..." she mumbled, before her friend brightened up, obviously having some advice in mind.

"Okay, look, if you want a boy to like you, just look at him and smile a lot at everything he says even if it's not funny." he gave her words on wisdom, which sounded a lot less like wisdom and a lot more like making herself look like an idiot.

"Well, that sounds really shallow and stupid..." he acknowledged her thoughts, before swallowing her pride; she wanted to win, and to win, she had to play by Ty Lee's rules, "Let's try it."

"Okay." her friend agreed, before placing a hand on her shoulder, her voice deepening to imitate a teenage boy, "Hey there, sweet sugar cakes. How you liking this party?"

In response, she laughed, just as she was advised, although she realised a few moments later that her laughter might have been a little too loud; her eyes darted around the room, seeing people's faces turn to look at her. Feeling embarrassed, she turned back to Ty Lee.

"Maybe that was little too loud." her friend acknowledged, "Maybe don't laugh at everything... just things that might be a joke." she added, "Your smiling's good though."

"So, smile and try and laugh when he says things that are meant to be funny?" she asked her friend, who nodded in confirmation.

"You've got the principle down pat. Go get 'im, Azula!" she proudly declared, making her smile back at her friend.

"Thanks, Ty." before she turned her heels, eyeing around the room for Chan; she made sight of him talking to a girl in one corner of the room, and the Princess decided there was no time like the present to make her move.

Walking up to him, she gave him a curl of the lips, thinking of an excuse to get him away from the other girl, "Chan, I'm ready for a tour of the house."

The teen boy looked at her with surprise, rubbing the back of his head with what looked to be slight embarrassment; Azula curled her lips, knowing that she was far prettier than the girl he was talking to, and he would prefer to talk with her, as was the nature of things. As long as she remained focused and followed Ty Lee's advice, she was sure that she could get him to like her. Chan handed his cup to the girl beside him, making her look upset; the Princess placed her cup on the girl's head, realising she ought to dispense of her own cup as well, which only aggravated the girl. She didn't, however, try to stop Azula walking away with Chan, who led her along through the house.

"This house is pretty big, although my house in the homeland is even bigger." he told her, making her smile.

"I'm sure it is. You said your father was an admiral?" she asked, remembering him mention that earlier; she knew that there was an Admiral Chan leading the Eastern Fleet at that moment, so she guessed that ought to be his father.

"Yeah, he's usually not around that much. He's been out with my mother, that's why I could have this big party." he explained, before curling his lips.

"How about you, are you here on the island with your family?" he asked her, the Princess raising a brow, remembering that she had come with Zuko and her two friends, essentially having been forced on their vacation.

"Only with my brother, and my two friends." she explained, "Our father sent us here on holiday; he has business dealings that we couldn't be apart of." she explained, her words not actually lies, but rather missing the point that her father was the Fire Lord.

"Ah, that's a familiar feeling. My dad doesn't let me join the navy or anything. He's says I'm not man enough yet." he sighed with frustration, making her pat him on the shoulder, grasping his upper bicep.

"You're man enough, I'm sure." she curled her lips, making him smirk, appreciating her words.

"Y-yeah, I am." he declared, before he led her on through to the balcony, "Is this your first time on Ember Island?" he asked her, the Princess shaking her head as she looked out to the water, "No, I used to come here years ago." she admitted, finding it a bad time to be reminded of her past; she didn't want to think about that when she was trying to forge something new for herself on the island.

"It's a great place, if you like sand." he jested, the Princess taking the hint and laughing, far lighter than she had before, "Yeah it's like, welcome to Sandy Land!" he exclaimed, the two of them laughing at his joke; she hoped that she smiles, affirmations and laughing were enough, and the fact he moved toward her when he stopped laughing was a good sign.

She looked at his arms once more, deciding to acknowledge them, "Your arms look so strong." she stressed, his face turning smug from hearing her words.

"Yeah, I know." he curled his lips, before they both leaned in and kissed; the embrace was brief, but she enjoyed it profusely- she had won, and she ecstatic because of it.

"You're pretty." he complimented her in turn, the Princess knowing exactly how to respond to his words.

Her tone grew louder as she began to declare, "Together, you and I will be the strongest couple in the world!" blue fireballs forming in her open palms, her firebending connecting to all the flames in the area, forming a blue brightness to cover the room, "We will dominate the Earth!" she exclaimed, Chan's face going from smugly confident to absolutely freaked out, his lips stretching long and his eyes widening with shock.

"Uh..." he mumbled, trying to make an adequate response, only to make an obviously fake an awkward grin, "I gotta go." and then began to slide away, going back into the house.

Her smirk became a scowl of frustration, before her feelings became uncertain, realising how much she had screwed up her attempt at wooing Chan; perhaps she wasn't as likeable as she thought herself to be. Yet her brother had said what he had, confusing her further; as if a curse from the spirits himself, Zuko happened to walk by, although she guessed he had been watching her conversation with Chan from afar.

"Uh... yeah. You see what I meant?" he asked her, his tone hopeful, as if she was supposed to learn a lesson from rejection; she scowled at him, offended that he would make himself out as the more competent sibling, especially when she had just disgraced herself.

"Shut up, Zuzu." she flared her teeth, stepping closer with a fist drawn, "Unless you want me to give you another scar to match." she warned her brother, who stepped out of the way.

"I don't want to fight." he told her, the Princess glaring him down; he had changed so much- it was like she didn't know her brother anymore.

"Exactly." she acknowledged, "Did you lose your spine some time between killing the Avatar and coming to Ember Island, brother?" she asked her, the Prince shaking his head, Azula moving away from him as he tried to place an affirming hand on her shoulder.

"No." he assured her, "I just don't want you to be hurt any more. These strangers- they don't under you, just like they don't understand me." he furthered, the Princess turning her heels.

"I'm leaving." she declared, "I've had enough of this party, and I've had enough... whatever you want to call this."

"I'm trying to help." he assured her, the Princess storming away without another word; she didn't care what Zuko said, all he seemed to do was confuse her.

Confusion and uncertainty weren't things she desired, she wanted to make sure she never experienced them; absolute certainty and understanding was her goal, and with no true understanding of her brother, or his intent, she couldn't trust him any longer. She walked on past Ty Lee and Mai, who both caught sight of them; they both seemed to be distracted by boys, something that made them less likely to follow after her; not that she wanted them to, she desired to be alone, and she knew exactly where she needed to go, and what she needed to do.

* * *

Lieutenant Jee rubbed his hands together, standing in the cold sea breeze as the last light disappeared from the sky; he was waiting by the end of the rear exit of the cargo vessel he had been stationed on, standing on the carved stone pier that had been constructed to jut out into the sea away from the island. Every port made by Fire Nation engineers seemed to be the same, as he remembered each one he visited under the command of Prince Zuko himself, visiting the same ports multiple times over the course of the three year journey they had undertaken. The cold winds were something he hadn't experienced in quite some time, although it reminded him of the last place they were sailing prior to their ship's sinking; they had been travelling about the islands south of the Earth Kingdom, visiting old Air Nomad sites to look for relics and evidence of the Avatar. He was unsure if the Prince had given up his quest by that point, but he most certainly acted like it was the most important thing any of the crew had ever participated in; the attitude he espoused when Jee met him in Fire Nation Capital was completely different. Zuko almost seemed to be giddy finding himself company of one his former crew, and the Lieutenant himself could almost say he missed the kid. The barking of orders he had received were a far gone memory, and now they were working together to save his lover; the story he had heard almost brought him to tears- he wasn't usually an overtly emotional man, but it turned out the alcohol had affected him more than he first thought. He was happy to oblige in assisting the Prince, knowing that after all his hardships, that he at the very least deserved that little bit of love in his life; he knew the boy needed it, knowing what he was like before the shipwreck all too well.

He heard what her could have sworn to be some birds by the pier, but it was too dark for him to see what he had heard, "Is someone there?!" he questioned out, getting no response; it must have been birds, he thought to himself, knowing that this must have been a safe respite for migrating birds that flew across the wide and desolate seas.

He was about to turn himself around and walk back into the ship when he heard the sound of footsteps in the distance; he immediately turned around, knowing the footsteps were far enough away that he couldn't spot their point of origin. He glanced up toward the rim of the caldera, trying to make out where the men were in their delivery of the cargo up to the gondola; he could still see the light of the carriage, which was donned with oil lamps to ensure that it could be safely directed up the windy path to the caldera rim. The footsteps became louder, Jee taking a firebending stance, ready to face whatever or whoever was approaching him; he was surprised when he actually made out who was running toward him. A guard from the Boiling Rock itself; he was confused why a guard would be down at the ship, but then his eyes widened. The guard was a woman, and he could see the auburn locks coming out of her helmet; it had to be her, it couldn't be anyone else. He stepped to approach her, realising that he was looking at Suki, the girl Zuko had described to him in perhaps a little too much detail, but enough that he could recognise her from her features; paler skin than anyone in the Fire Nation, auburn hair and and blue eyes. She was panting from exhaustion, and her hands fell over her knees as she leant forward, trying to catch a breath.

He reached an arm out, "Are you alright?" he asked her, the girl flinching back, taking a fighting stance before she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Jee?" she asked him, the Lieutenant nodding in confirmation; she immediately took her guards helmet off, wiping the sweat from her face, which was fully revealed to him.

She was about the Prince's age, looking as he would have expected her to- a pretty looking teenage girl, with nape length auburn hair and blue eyes; she looked at him before looking up to the caldera, her face tense and fearful, as he would expect anyone who had just broken out of prison to be.

"I had to get here... before they turned around." she panted, wiping her mouth.

"You did it." he acknowledged, "Congratulations, you're the first person to ever escape from the Boiling Rock." he acknowledged, making her eyes widen, before she curled her lips.

"U-uh, huh... first?" she asked in clarification, the Lieutenant nodding.

"Yeah." he confirmed, before looking back to the ship behind him, "You should get on the ship right now. The crew is mostly asleep or lazing about- we should be fine." he assured her, the warrior nodding before taking a deep breath.

"Do you have a cover story for me?" she asked him, Jee eyeing back into the ship instinctively, before giving her an affirmative smile.

"Yeah, I changed the books in the Captain's office so you'll be recorded as a new arrival. Even if he doesn't recognise you, he'll see the record and that'll prove you're legitimate." he assured her, before raising a hand, indicating for her to enter, "You probably want to have a shower... or get changed. Maybe both?" he asked her, the teenage girl nodding profusely.

"Definitely both." she acknowledged, before walking in ahead of him, the Lieutenant eyeing the caldera rim above them for a moment before turning to follow her.

walking on through the cargo compartment, they moved on through until they reached the interior doors, which he indicated for her to open; she budged it open quietly, even though she didn't really need to. Her instincts seemed to be very much in full swing when it came to stealth, thinking back to what she must have just experienced.

"Was it hard to get out?" he asked her, the warrior glancing back his way before stepping through the doorway.

"After I got the uniform... not really. I thought the soldiers up there were going to spot me, but I was luckily able to find a spot to hide in." she acknowledged, before continuing to walk on down the hallway, "Where am I staying?" she asked, the Lieutenant pointing down the long hallway.

"You'll be in one of the woman's bunk rooms; luckily for you, I think one of the rooms is free. There's not too many women on this ship, you see." he explained, Suki nodding along before furrowing a brow.

"And the showers?" she asked, the Lieutenant pointing behind him.

"They're down back by the cargo area; again, sex-split, so you'll probably get the communal showers to yourself." he explained, the warrior nodding along, before looking down at the guard outfit she had been wearing.

"You wouldn't happen to have any clothes waiting for me, would you?" she asked, making him chuckle with an awkward tone, remembering the conversation he had had with the quartermaster asking for a uniform that would fit a someone far smaller than himself.

"Yes, I do." he assured her, "It's in my room, which is where we're going right now." he explained, before pointing to a door, the warrior stepping out of the way to let him open it up.

He pulled on the handle, pushing the door ajar to glance in, noting that his room-mates were not asleep, but either reading or not present; he stepped in with an assuring face, one of his fellow crew-members raising a brow.

"Oh, evening, Lieutenant." he noted his presence, "The boys back yet?" he asked, Jee shaking his head.

"No, they're still at the gondola station. It takes them a while to get up that slope." he acknowledged, before kneeling over to pull the uniform he had stored under his bed.

"What's the clothes for?" the same crew-member asked, Jee giving him an awkward smile.

"Oh, somebody asked for a spare pair. Spilt food or something." he excused himself, the man nodding before returning to his book.

"Well, lucky they've got such a kindhearted friend like yourself to help out." he chuckled to himself, before the Lieutenant stepped his way out of the room, returning to Suki, who was leaning up against the wall, raising a brow as she looked at the uniform in his hands.

"Huh, less Fire-Nation-y than I thought it'd be." she noted, before he pointed down toward the showers.

"The showers are on the last door to the right." he explained, before curling his lips, "Be sure to go in the one that says 'women'. I don't want to have to explain away you walking in on some of the crewmen having their evening showers."

She snickered in response before nodding, "Thanks, Jee. I'm- uh- well I really appreciate you actually went out of your way to help me." she acknowledged, looking uneasy her eyes darted away; he sighed and patted her on the shoulder.

"You didn't deserve to go to prison." he assured her, "Now, go clean up. I'm sure you're going to appreciate the meagre comforts afforded by the Fire Navy." he indicated to the showers down the hall; she tilted her head in thought before curling her lips; he guessed she hadn't had a hot shower in months, although when he came to think of it, he was unsure whether the Earth Kingdom even had such luxuries.

"I most certainly will."

* * *

Approaching his family's old vacation house, Zuko wasn't surprised to see his sister sitting out the front, moping silently; he almost wanted to laugh to himself, knowing that the tables had turned, and she was now the angsty conflicted sibling while he was the confident one. He, Ty Lee and Mai had left the party a bit after his sister had walked out, after she had been rejected by Chan; he couldn't blame her for how she felt about it, knowing all too well that Azula was not in the right space of mind. Her reaction to his words at the turtle-duck pond and her almost religious avoidance of him afterwards showed that she was trying to avoid him and his words; he didn't lie, and that was made him feel bad- the fact Azula believed he was lying proved that he hadn't been a good enough brother to her. The others had gone down to the beach, while he went to go find his sister, knowing that she would have only gone to two places- to Lo and Li's house to go to bed, or to their old vacation home. The moment her eyes caught his own, she looked down, not wanting to see him; when he approached, she quickly voiced her displeasure to him.

"What are you doing here, Zuzu?" she asked him, before her eyes looked back up at him; her glare was not ruthless and steely as he would expect it, but rather pained and sad, her eyes reddened from what looked like her crying, "Did you completely miss what I told you? I don't want to talk to you."

"No, I got that." he assured her that he had received the memo; she was determined to make sure he went way, but not enough to get violent with him, "I don't want to talk, I just want to make sure you're not... moping around alone."

"What?" she questioned him, almost scoffing, "You're the one who always mopes around." she declared, although he could see it in her eyes that she was lying; usually it would be pretty hard for him to tell if she was speaking the truth or not, but he could see it right on her face.

"Once, all I could was brood, but now, I feel like I actually... care about the world, and other people." he stressed, the Princess refusing to look at him.

"You don't really care about me. I know that for a fact. If you did, you would have really killed the Avatar." she flared her teeth, Zuko's eyes widening; he hadn't expected Azula to figure it out, but then again, he essentially told her he didn't care if the Avatar was alive.

"I- I did what I had to do." he told her honestly, the Princess looking up at him with spiteful eyes.

"You lied. You didn't just lie, you made it seem like you were the perfect heir. But you're not. You're just a liar who..." she began to ramble, before she looked down, dejected and unable to speak any longer, "I don't even care. Just go away. Enjoy the time you have left as Prince."

"I didn't kill the Avatar, because he's not my enemy. You're not my enemy, either." he told her, approaching the Princess, who stood up, trying to avoid him physically as well as ignore his words.

"Then who is?" she questioned, the Prince sighing, placing a hand over his face.

"Who didn't care when I died?" he questioned in response, knowing that she would know the answer.

"Why?" she glared at him, standing at the doorway of the vacation house, looking down at him, "Why do you want to destroy everything we've built?"

"Because of him. He allowed me to 'die' at the hands of Zhao without repercussions. He let that division of soldiers die. He is at fault for mother leaving. He ruined my life." he declared to her with a determined glare, the Princess's eyes widening, realising that he was being serious, "I will not make you choose between me or him, but you know where I stand. I will not let the Fire Nation continue to do what we have done for the past hundred years." he told her, the Princess chuckling to herself, obviously trying to not take him seriously.

"Has uncle really muddled your mind that much?" she asked him, before stepping closer.

"No, actually." he stressed, "Who do you think would have come up with the idea to shoot the Avatar with lightning to make sure everyone would think he was dead?" he asked her, his sister's eyes widened, as he began to tremble.

"Me." she mumbled, "It was me. I am the undoing of the Fire Nation." she gasped with surprise; before she could move any further, he placed a hand on his shoulder.

"No, you made me realise something Azula, something very important, that you need to hear." he told her, the Princess shaking her head.

"I don't want to hear that again." she told him, the Prince shaking his head.

"I do love you, Azula, but this isn't about love. You taught me to be my own person, to stand tall and assert myself. You gave me the strength to stand up in that war meeting. Uncle did too, in his own way. You called yourself at fault, but you misunderstand." he stressed, making her step back with fear.

"What are you talking about?" she asked him, unsure where he was going with his lengthy monologue.

"You allowed me to become my best self. You gave me the courage to fix myself. To find love, to be uncompromising in my actions, to become the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation once more." he declared, before smiling at her, pulling her in and hugging her, "My scar means nothing in comparison to what you gave me. Thank you, Azula."

He expected Azula to push him away after he held her with his embrace, but she didn't; she began to sob, and he could feel her tears drip down onto his shoulder, "Why didn't she love me?" she asked him, the Prince shaking his head and looking her in eyes.

"She did. She was just bad at showing it." he assured her, the Princess narrowing her eyes at him, darting away as she looked aggrieved, thinking about her relationship with their mother.

"I don't believe you." she told him in a stern tone, although her voice was barely coming out as a whisper.

"Even if you don't, please, believe that I love you, Azula." he looked into her golden eyes, reddened further from crying, "If anything, just believe that."

She dropped her head into his shoulder, sniffling as she held her face against the warmth of his chest, "I do."

He hugged her for what felt like a lifetime, before she moved away, wiping her eyes, her self-consciousness about her appearance taking hold; he raised a brow and chuckled at her reaction, before tilting his head downhill toward the black sand beach that sat below their old vacation house.

"I'm sure Ty Lee and Mai are getting pretty bored, we should go and sit down with them." he suggested, the Princess's eyes rising to meet his own before she nodded.

"U-uh- yeah, they'll be so bored without us, the great and interesting Fire Nation royalty." she declared, although he couldn't tell if she was confident or just imitating the feeling.

The siblings walked down side-by-side along a dirt path from the vacation house, heading down a relatively sharp incline that led to the beach, where Mai and Ty Lee were sitting down beside each other, chatting amongst themselves; the acrobat's eyes widened as soon as she saw them, beaming brightly, as if she hadn't seen them in years.

"Ooh, did you two make up?" she asked, making Zuko chuckle turning his eyes to Azula for a moment before glancing back at his sister's friends.

"Yeah, I guess we did." he acknowledged, the Princess curling a brow in thought.

"Yes... but no offense, I'd like to do something more fun than sit on a beach and talk about our feelings." the Princess admitted, making Ty Lee sigh with disappointment.

"Awww, I was really looking forward to that part." she admitted, "I wanted to find out how Zuko went from angsty to cool so quickly."

The Prince felt a certain sense of self-consciousness, "I'm not cool." his eyes darted around, feeling that word not to be the best way to describe himself; reassuringly, his sister placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah, I know you're still a big softy, Zuzu." she jested, making him shake his head.

"I'd say I'm neither." he argued, before Mai tilted her head.

"I'd say you're both." she raised a contrary argument, making both Ty Lee and Azula snicker at him; the stoic girl raised a brow, returning back to their original point of discussion, "What did you want to do instead of sitting on at the beach?

"Oh, well, I'd like to get make this night a little more memorable." she suggested, making Zuko face-palm, indicating that he had a pretty good idea what she had in mind.

"You're really going to burn down Chan's house?" he asked her, making her feign surprise.

"How did you figure it out?" she asked him, as if she actually knew his response already.

"You're Azula. If you didn't want to burn down his house, I'd be shaking you to ask what you did with my sister."


	45. Together

_Upon hearing the chaotic mess of sounds that the crew liked to call Music Night, Prince Zuko was reminded was he dreaded it so much; despite the crew members all being decently skilled at each of their instruments of choice, they weren't making any kind of harmony, which made him want to cover his ears and rock himself to sleep. His uncle had taken unfair advantage of his relatively positive mood since his victory over Zhao; Iroh, however, was beaming at him brightly as he played the tsungi horn. Although it seemed that they were incompetent, in isolation, each of the instruments being played might have sounded nice, by some stretch of the word. He was not well versed in the area his nation's musical traditions, but he knew how to play a tsungi horn, and not much else; he had only learnt to play the instrument in the first place because his mother insisted he pick something up when he was young, and she was very supportive of him playing it, probably more so than she was of his firebending. The memory made him smile at the bittersweet memories, before that smile was shattered by another burst of energy from the ship's cook, who had taken it upon himself to beat out a drum solo almost violently. If it weren't for the sounds being made, one might have thought he was trying to beat someone to death; to his disappointment, there were a number of sounds that appeared from his hammering of the instrument, none of them kind to the ear. Even his uncle cringed at the sound of the drums banging off; the solo lasted a good twenty seconds, all other instrument players dropping out playing. To the Prince's surprise, the instrumental became tolerable in tune by the time he stopped, but that was it for the cook, who looked at the rest of the crew with dread._

_"Oh, did I do it again?" he asked him, the helmsman placing a sympathetic hand on his shoulder._

_"Yeeep... you did it." he acknowledged him with a drawn-out and cringed voice; it only took a few moments for his uncle to pipe up once more._

_"Should we try again?" he asked the crew, who looked amongst themselves, before one by one, each of them began to beat out a tune; at the very least, when they began, they were actually trying to follow a consistent beat, laid out by his uncle's low humming on the tsungi horn._

_Zuko stood up and shuffled back to the wall, leaning up against it casually, slowly beginning his exit of the room; he didn't want to flat out race out in fear of having to listen to another bombastic orchestra of sailors playing their favourite instruments, but rather slowly edge on out, making his departure as inconspicuous as possible. The instrumental began to become more chaotic as time went on, as he knew it did, with crew members taking turns to plot out their own beat the others would follow- follow quite loosely at that. He finally reached the door, stepping out of the small hall, into the hallway, eyeing his uncle to make sure he wasn't feeling down from the Prince's exit; not to his surprise, his uncle was still humming along with his horn, making Zuko smile. He was happy that at the very least he was enjoying himself; the Prince had come to realise after his Agni Kai that he ought to respect the feelings of others more. His quest was important, but the entire crew, his uncle included, needed to have their own time, to do their own things; the Avatar wasn't their problem, even if they were tagging along. He walked on out to the deck of the ship, momentarily shivering from the twilight breeze, breathing a few times to ensure that his bending was up to scratch before continuing; he silently thanked Iroh for his breathing exercises, as they ensured he wouldn't find himself chilly at night, especially in the windy and harsh southern seas._

_Narrowing his eyes to the south, he made sight of a lighter portion of the sky, realising he was looking toward what must've been the south pole, where the sky would be bright at all times of day during that time of the year. He remembered the last time he had been around the South Pole, although they quickly returned north, the cold temperatures not helping the crew, bender or not, as well as there being no friendly ports south of the former Air Nomad territories. They were some distance south of the Earth Kingdom mainland, heading in the direction of Whaletail Island; he had heard about some Air Nomad relics there, and had suggested they go there next- it was also supposedly a good place for the crew to have an actual break, something the Prince himself was looking forward to._

_His duel with Zhao, however brief, tired him in a way that other tasks had not; in the nearly three years he had spent looking for the last airbender, he never lost his determination, and remained focused, but with the defeat of the man who dared to shame him, before his banishment at that, he felt a sense of calm, both in his heart and in his mind. Zuko was about to smile at the thought of hit, before he remembered something Iroh had once told him, that 'there is always a calm before a storm'. He didn't want to be sitting in the calm, bliss with himself and his achievement, only to be swept up by a storm, whether literal or figurative. Although he thought himself smart enough to avoid the dangers of a literal storm, the figurative kind would be harder for a Prince like himself._

_"I ought to prepare for this storm." he mumbled to himself, before turning back toward the superstructure of his ship, knowing he ought to go back to his room, where he would be warm without the need of his bending, as well as giving him the opportunity to meditate for a while, as the crew continued their Music Night._

_He wanted to speak with his uncle after he came back, as they had many things to consider for their future plans; the Avatar mightn't appear very soon, so the Prince would need to continue to improve his bending, as well as further his education, knowing that eventually he would return to the Fire Nation as a prince. He couldn't go back and be mocked by his sister for having the smarts of an adolescent; such a disgrace would be shameful for him to bear. The shame would be coming mostly from his sister in the form of quips about him being a moron, one thing he certainly didn't miss in his banishment._

* * *

Grasping her hands on the railings of a Fire Nation warship, Suki's eyes widened looking upon the port of the Fire Nation Capital; she was amazed by both the fact she was actually in the capital of the Fire Nation, as well as her not waking up in a prison cell. It almost felt unusual for her to walk around freely, despite her having to put up an act as a ship-hand, Jee giving her tips and guidelines a number of times a day, ensuring that she fit into her temporary role quite well. Disguising herself as a sailor was far easier than making herself look like Fire Nation soldier, remembering the last operation she and the Kyoshi Warriors had undertaken before they were captured by Azula. Her mind turned to Zuko, who she knew must be the palace, probably awaiting her arrival. She didn't know what she'd say to him when she saw him again, realising that it had been a few months since they had seen each other; he had been in Ba Sing Se for a number of weeks, then he returned to the Fire Nation, returning to his former position as Crown Prince, all the while she waited patiently in prison for her opportunity to arise.

"What do you think of it?" she heard Jee's now quite familiar voice; being stuck with the man for a few days meant that she had come to know him quickly.

It turned out that he had been told a long winded story by Zuko, which supposedly recounted his journey to finding love, that being his relationship with her; the two of them were also allegedly heavily intoxicated by the time her boyfriend finished the story, so she didn't expect it to be that accurate. However, the Lieutenant revealed to her that his story only became more heartfelt, supposedly going into lengthy details about how he felt about having to betray the Avatar and his friends even after his sister had captured her, and then the sadness he had felt and kept to himself while he returned home. Jee, without a doubt, knew her like a friend, although she didn't feel confident enough to say that she did too.

"The city?" she asked him, to which he nodded in clarification; she looked forward, examining the port city, which was walled and had a large set of docks that looked like it could house dozens of warships like the one they were sailing in, "It looks like someone took a dock and decided to scale it up to Ba Sing Se proportions." she acknowledged, making him snicker.

"That's a pretty accurate assessment. Caldera City is more interesting, although only the high-ups get to live and work there." he explained, before raising a finger, "That's where the palace is." he stressed, the Kyoshi Warrior comprehending his point, looking up to the large rim of the extinct volcano; a city inside an extinct volcano sounded quite exotic to her, but then again, she had just been in a prison inside an active one.

"Should we go get our things? I don't have much, but don't you need to get some clothes or something?" she asked him, the Lieutenant scratching the side of his head.

"I'll get changed when I get to my apartment... I guess you'll have to stay there for the meantime, until Zuko sorts something out for you." he explained to her, Suki narrowing her eyes at him; the Lieutenant had complained more than once about his apartment, although she herself would prefer a crappy apartment over having share a room with a bunch of other people.

"Thanks again for giving me a place to stay." she acknowledged, "I'm sure Zuko will... well, he's going to pay you well." she chuckled, realising how much wealth and power her boyfriend must hold in being the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation.

"Now, you should go and pack up our things. There will be a short debrief before we can head out to the city." he explained, the Kyoshi Warrior narrowing her eyes; she wasn't well versed with military conventions, she herself the leader of a small irregular fighting force.

"Ah, okay. I'll just follow your lead then." she acknowledged, before the Lieutenant glanced around the deck.

"Oh- actually, you should finish up your mopping. You're not an actual ship-hand, but it's better to act like it." he gave her a veiled order, the warrior sighing before begrudgingly nodding.

"Of course, Lieutenant." she accepted his order, glancing back at the approaching city before grabbing the mop she had left leaning on the railing.

As Jee returned into the bowels of the ship, she remained up top, washing the floor clean of accumulated dirt and bird-shit; it wasn't that dirty, but at the very least, it gave her something productive to do while she waited for the ship to move into port. As she led the mop over the deck, she turned her mind to Zuko and his plans; she didn't know exactly what he intended to do when they reunited, but she was sure that it had something to do with his sister. She vividly remembered him stressing the importance of her to his plans of fixing the Fire Nation, but from what she could see, Azula was as loyal to Ozai as an other patriotic Fire Nation citizen would be expected to be, if not more. She wasn't exactly the kindest person, which Suki had learnt from experience, but she didn't try to kill her warriors, just imprisoning them. Of course, she had been sent to the Boiling Rock, had her uniform stolen and ended up being an unwilling accessory to the conquest of Ba Sing Se. That made her gut wrench, thinking how that was the exact opposite of what she had set out to do, leading her warriors to the mainland to try and help in the war. She knew there was one thing that she could do to right her own wrongs, and that was quite simple; she needed to find her friends, and they needed to take down the Fire Nation themselves.

* * *

With her forearm drawing across her brother's, both of them stared each other down; smoke was coming from each of their palms, aimed at each other's heads. Azula wanted to make a joke at him as they stood ready to strike each other; demanding of her brother that the two of them sparred, she was confident that she could win, despite her brother's rather drastic improvement in his bending since they split three years prior. His bending style, unlike her own, was unconventional, primarily focusing on only striking when necessary; she had remembered from her numerous tutorials on bending theory that this was called neutral jing. He still however showed streaks of absolute power, that she would associate with conventional firebending, but it was rare, only appearing when he had the opportunity to strike with no chance of failure. Just like when he struck the Avatar with lightning; his bending was not to be used haphazardly- it was refined and accurate in it's use, with every fire blast having a purpose.

"Are you going to hit me brother?" she asked him, almost mockingly, before he curled his lips, looking like he was about to hit her.

"Are you?" he retorted; the Princess had had enough of her brother's games of dodging and dispersing- she wanted him to show his true power.

She tripped her brother with her left leg, which was lined up against his own; as he fell to the ground, he sent a stream of flames out of his foot, surprising her and forcing her to step back. The stream singed her hair and made her grimace, realising how unprepared she was to fight Zuko when she couldn't even predict his attacks; reorienting herself, she realised that the two of them were now standing a few strides apart, but close enough that whoever attacked first would be able to knock the other over quite easily. She took advantage of this situation, sending a stream of flames through her two fists, the blue flames thrusting forward and striking her brother, who skidded back, still remaining on his feet as he used his own firebending to disperse the attack. It still shocked him, giving her the initiative; Azula threw a volley of fireballs at her brother, who struggled to disperse them, forced to use his own bending to deflect the blasts away. She curled her lips, before spinning her feet around, sending a wave of fire at her brother through her left foot, before making the same motion with her right; he ducked under the first attack before bending the second, her flames turning orange as he coiled the fire around himself, sending it right back at her. Not expecting the stream of flames that came her way, she pulled her arms out in front of her, cutting the stream in half, before sending a kick of flames through it; she had realised her brother couldn't see her through the stream, allowing her to strike him square in the chest, throwing him across the ground, his back skidding along the stone surface, making him grunt in pain. She put her hands behind her, using them to send jets of fire out behind her, sending her toward Zuko, who was lying on his back, seemingly dazed; when she got close enough, she used her jets to launch herself above her brother, ready to make a final strike to end their spar. To her surprise, he launched himself back to his feet, his right fist sending a blast of flames forward, trying to strike her in the torso; she had taken her hands away from behind her and sent her left forward to create a blast that would disperse his own attack. As expected, their attacks neutralised each other, but she immediately realised that she was landing on top of her brother, her fists forcing him down to the ground as she tumbled over the top of him. She grunted in pain as her body collided with the hard stone surface, splaying her over the ground, unable to defend herself; it took her a few seconds to realise, but her eyes looked in front of her to see Zuko lying just as dazed as she was.

"Can we call it a draw? I think you broke one of my ribs." he requested, the Princess chuckling at him.

"A broken rib? Does that mean that I won?" she quipped back at him, the Prince rising to his feet, looking at her with a frustrated glare.

"I'm not fighting, but if you want to throw a fireball at my head, I'll get pretty pissed off." he warned her, before offering her a hand, "Now, can we go to the infirmary?"

She begrudgingly accepted his hand, and nodded in confirmation, "Fine, Zuzu, we'll make sure to find the extent of my victory." she smirked, the Prince tensing his hand, stopping his assistance half-way, leaving her in a position where she could fall back flat on her behind.

"Choose your next words wisely." he warned her, the Princess's eyes darting to the ground, before she sighed.

"Sorry, brother. I can't help but to enjoy my victories." she sighed, Zuko rolling his eyes at her confident mockery.

"No one won today. I don't see anyone lying on the ground surrendering." he told her, before pulling her to her feet.

"You just don't want to fight." she argued, the Prince shrugging his shoulders.

"I don't want another broken rib. I'm not being weak, I'm being smart." he quipped back, making snicker, before she gave him a mocking clap.

"Brilliant strategy." she sarcastically congratulated him, before looking at him stumble forward toward the edge of the sparring ground.

"Do you need some help?" she asked him, the Prince's eyes glancing back, narrowed and suspicious.

"Are you offering to help?" he questioned her intentions, making her cross her arms, curling her lips.

"No, I'm not. I'm just here to watch you suffer." she declared, making his eyes widen with fear; the kind of dread he had in his eyes was rare for her to see, but once she did, Azula broke down laughing, knowing she had had her fun.

"Aha- you can't take a joke, can you, Zuzu?" she asked him, the Prince sighing, his head tilting backward as he continued to trudge forward.

When she slung her right arm around his shoulder to help him move a little quicker without the threat of face-planting for all the guards in the palace to see, he gave her a little smile, appreciative her helping hand.

"Th-thanks, Zula." he tilted his head down, making her chuckle patting his shoulder with her outstretched arm.

"You'll repay me in no time, if you're really as good a bender as I think you are." she acknowledged, making him blush with embarrassment.

"I'm really not that good... you're definitely stronger than me." he argued, the Princess nodding along, actually agreeing with his words.

"Yes, I am stronger." she clarified, "But you fight... well you don't fight like me. You're unique."

He chuckled, before smirking at her, "You do know Uncle taught me more than to just appreciate tea." he explained the origin of his skills; she grimaced with distaste, both at the mention of their uncle, and his adoration of tea.

"Oh, don't you start on the damn tea." she rolled her eyes, "If I get a whiff of jasmine tea in this palace, I'm going to drag you out of your room and start sparring you then and there."

"Don't worry, I'll make sure to enjoy my tea in places where you can't smell it." he assured her, the Princess raising a brow at him.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she questioned with a curious tone, Zuko coughing and clearing his throat.

"Uh- nothing... my ribs really hurt, you know?" he complained, making her wink at him.

"You can thank me later. Nothing helps you improve your breathing routines like a busted rib." she suggested to her brother, whose eyes widened, looking back at her with a disbelieving face.

"You could just try and be a little sympathetic, truly." he sighed, the Princess shrugging as she helped him walk on down the hallway of the palace, knowing it would be a long trudge to the palace with his broken rib.

"Not a chance."

* * *

Taking a deep breath before he opened the front door of the tavern, Zuko felt a sense of unease; he knew that he had asked Jee to meet him there the night he returned, hopefully with his girlfriend in tow. Because of the required secrecy of the escape attempt, no messages were sent out from the cargo ship to confirm or deny whether she had been picked up. He could trust Suki of all people to break out of the Boiling Rock, but the uncertainty was eating away at him; as soon as he got back from Ember Island, it had been the only thing on his mind, and he was sure that if he didn't come that night to see if the escape succeeded, he'd lose his mind over it. Once he entered the tavern, he glanced around to try and spot Jee, who he expected to be waiting at the bar for him, like the last time they had met; he was surprised to see him waiting on the bar stool, sitting alone. His heart beat twice, thinking that his worst fears could have come true, that Suki didn't actually escape; he clenched his jaw shut, cringing at the thought, before he stepped forward, approaching the Lieutenant, who noticed him as he approached.

"Evening, your highness." he greeted him, the Prince's eyes darting around, noticing that his girlfriend wasn't present.

"Uh, where's Suki?" he asked the Lieutenant, who narrowed a brow, looking like he was about to explain himself, before his eyes widened; the Prince was confused by his shocked reaction, before he himself felt a tap of his shoulder.

He turned his head around, finding himself kissed by none other than his girlfriend, who grabbed the back of his scalp tightly, pulling him into an embrace; he felt flutters in his chest as he fell deep into the moment, time feeling as if it had stopped still just for them to kiss. After a few moments of their lips touching, he looked into her blue eyes as she looked into his golden, a little smile curling on her lips, as she continued to caress the hair on the back of his head.

"Your hair got longer." she acknowledged, the Prince blushing, unable to think of an adequate response.

"Uh- y-you look... you look pretty." he came up with the best thing he could, noting the truth of the matter; she was wearing the clothes of a Fire Nation commoner, which was far lighter on the body that both her armour and the blue tunic she normally wore outside of her warrior duties- the new outfit only enhanced her beauty in his eyes, although he had been longing to kiss her with her make-up on, seeing that was almost her natural state to him.

"You don't look that bad yourself, although you seem a little less... princely than I expected." she suggested as she scanned down his outfit; he wasn't wearing his royal robes, and had been wearing his hair down with a cloak to further disguise himself.

"Ah, yes. The Crown Prince of the Fire Nation doesn't show up to port taverns." he smirked, making her chuckle.

"But it seems Zuko does." she acknowledged, before she stepped to the side, indicating to a bar stool, "Let's sit down, I think we have a lot to talk about."

"We do. I'm guessing you and Jee probably discussed a lot already." he guessed, Suki nodding in confirmation.

"Yeah, it seems that drunk Zuko doesn't hold his thoughts back." she sat herself down on the bar stool, making the Prince blush before he sat down on the stool between Jee and her.

"F-first, there's one thing I need to know." she spoke up, her tone sounding more serious than it had before.

"What is it?" he asked her, his voice sounding fearful; he didn't know what exactly had happened to her in prison, or even how his sister had treated her, although from what he had got from Azula, it didn't sound very good.

"Do you know where the Kyoshi Warriors are?" she asked, the Prince nodding in confirmation; he had checked the records when he was searching up about the Boiling Rock, finding out that the other Kyoshi warriors had been sent from their original prison site near Ba Sing Se to one not far outside of the Fire Nation capital; he knew that he was going to free them eventually, but he needed a plan to do so, something he didn't have in mind yet.

"Yes. They're in a prison not too far from this city." he confirmed, her eyes brightening with hope, before they narrowed with determination.

"Good. We're going to break them out." she declared, the Prince nodding along with support.

"Yes, yes we are." he assured her that he was on side with her thoughts; the warriors were his friends too, and he didn't want them in prison any longer than he could help it.

"That's not something I'm going to be involved with, is it?" Jee asked the Prince, who chuckled at the suggestion.

"Well, I'm sure it'll be a little easier to break into an ordinary prison than the Boiling Rock of all places." he admitted, before smiling at the Lieutenant, grateful for his help, "You've done so much to help us already. I don't want to needlessly involve you in things that might go sideways."

The Lieutenant nodded, before he furrowed a brow, "If you don't mind, I'm a little hungry. I'm just going to buy myself some food." he explained himself, the Prince shaking his head.

"Go right ahead..." he smiled at his former subordinate, before curling his lips, "Actually, you know what, go buy yourself a good dinner, on me." he gave him some gold coins, "It's the least the treasury of the Fire Nation can do for it's loyal subjects." he joked, knowing that the money wasn't really his but part of the allowance he had been afforded from his position as Crown Prince.

As Jee walked off to order some food, Zuko cleared his throat as he looked back to Suki, before thinking of the one thing he wanted to know, "How did it happen?" he asked her, whose eyes looked down poignantly at the bar below her.

"We freed a number of Earth Kingdom villagers from internment by the Fire Nation, where they were working on this massive construction; I'm sure your sister was tracking us after she found out what happened." she explained her story, before her eyes narrowed, "We were trekking through the forest away from her, but we came across the Avatar's sky-bison." she explained, the Prince trembling at the mention of Appa.

"W-wait, you found Appa?" he asked her, the Kyoshi Warrior raising a brow at him, surprised by his shocked tone; he had freed the sky-bison from under Lake Laogai, where he had been captured by the Dai Li.

"Yeah, I think somehow, Aang had lost him, and he was wandering around. He was pretty beat up, but we cleaned him up and made sure he was alright." she explained, before her eyes filled with dread, "Then Azula showed up."

"Was the fight bad?" he asked, "I know my sister can be a vicious fighter." he added, knowing all too well what she could be like; he had experienced the full brunt of her bending earlier that day during their regular sparring sessions, and he had not come off lightly.

"We weren't hurt that bad, although your sister did give me a pretty solid beating." she noted, "It hurt my pride more than anything." she furthered, before chuckling, "Oh, but you should have seen the look on Azula's face when Amari nearly slit her throat with your dagger."

His eyes widened, thinking about that fight between said Kyoshi Warrior and his own sister, who had mentioned it when she explained her own version of events, "Azula versus Amari... now I'm jealous that I missed that."

"Yeah... but after she was beat by Ty Lee, we were all chi-blocked and tied up, and then we were locked up on your sister's weird metal vehicle. After that, we were imprisoned, interrogated, and then I was sent to the Boiling Rock." she explained the rest of her story, the Prince sighing, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry I left, honestly. Uncle and I, we did good for ourselves in Ba Sing Se... but I guess it was a little like your experience." he admitted, making her raise a brow.

"Azula just happened to show up?" she guessed correctly, the Prince nodding, before narrowing his eyes, remembering how angry he had felt seeing his sister having stolen Suki's outfit.

"She mocked your very honour by walking around in your clothes, pretending to be you." he explained, sighing as he rose a hand to his face, "When I was told the Kyoshi Warriors were serving the Earth King himself, I was ecstatic, but then when I saw her, it broke my heart. I didn't know how to feel."

She placed a hand on his shoulder sympathetically, "What happened to you next? All I heard from Jee was that you defeated Aang." she explained, the Prince sighing, remembering what he had done that day; he had shot the Avatar himself down with a lightning bolt, albeit one modulated to ensure that it only incapacitated him.

"I played my role as the good prince of the Fire Nation." he simplified his actions down to one idea; he was lying through his teeth, pretending to be someone he was not, all the while actually fulfilling his sister's desires for him to return to the Fire Nation as a hero, "I did what Azula wanted me to, and then when she fought Aang, I had to shoot him down, because if I didn't-"

"She would have killed him." Suki finished his sentence, her saddened eyes understanding his actions, "Then what?"

"I came back to the Fire Nation a hero, except I failed in the one thing I had wanted to do in Ba Sing Se." he placed his hand over his face, "Uncle was captured, and because he assisted the Avatar, was brought back in chains a traitor in the eyes of his nation."

"Oh..." she gasped, looking at him with fear, "Is he alright?" she asked him, the Prince nodding; he was glad that his father was merciful enough to not send his own brother to be executed, rather letting him rot away in prison, where he could ready himself to escape, when the time came.

"Yes. I visited him a week ago to explain my plans to him; he knows what I'm- we are going to do." he assured her, "I think he's readying himself to get out of prison, but I made sure that he gets his tea and the food he likes while he's in there."

She smiled back at Zuko, before kissing him on the cheek, "Thanks for doing all of this." she acknowledged what he had done to free her, something that made him want to cry; she didn't deserve what had happened to her, and he was just trying to right his own wrongs- letting her be captured was one of them.

"No, I should thank you." he smiled at her, "You helped me become a better person, Suki. Without you, I couldn't have realised who I really am, who I always should have been." he told her, making her blush at his words.

"You're giving me a lot of credit. I'm sure your uncle deserves some too." she suggested, making him chuckle in thought.

"Well, he does." he agreed, before his eyes locked with hers, "I can't- I can't believe I'm actually here with you." he beamed, before he leaned in closer, both of their foreheads touching each other's, "I love you, Suki." he declared, making her lean in for another kiss.

"I love you too." she told him with a sweet and assuring tone, before she grasped his hand with her own, "I've waited... so long for you." she told him, the Prince shedding a tear down his cheek.

"I- I have too." he told her, "Do you want to get out of this tavern?" he asked her, the Kyoshi Warrior raising a brow with interest.

"Where will we go?" she asked him, the Prince curling his lips; he knew that he wanted to take her home with him, but as that was a dangerous move to take, especially seeing that he had just reunited with her, Zuko decided for a more simple course of action.

"Upstairs." he curled his lips, Suki looking at him with surprise, before she bit on her lower lip.

"Oh, you want to go upstairs?" she asked him with eyes narrowed on him, before raising a brow, "I'm guessing a Prince like yourself has some money spare to pay for a room."

"I do." he nodded with a smirk, before turning to face the barkeep, who had been sitting waiting for someone to order something, "How much is a room here?" he asked him, the man's eyes widening with surprise.

"Oh, uh- it's three gold pieces for a night." he explained, the Prince curling his lips, placing the requested currency in his hand casually, "Oh, I'll get your keys." he assured the pair, the Kyoshi Warrior grasping Zuko's scalp and pulling his lips into hers, kissing him once more.

Once they broke their moment of embrace, "I am sure this is the most action you've got in the past two months." she jested, making him roll his eyes.

"You're joking now." he told her, "Just you wait." he leaned in closer with a devious smirk, the warrior placing a hand on his chest.

"I'm waiting." she curled her lips at him, the Prince turning around to accept the key into his hand, the barkeep pointing to the stairs.

"Room four. It's the second to the right." he gave them directions to their room, Zuko nodding before his girlfriend grasped his hand, leading him along upstairs; he gave Jee a momentary wave, the Lieutenant peering up from his meal with surprise, giving him a slightly uneasy wave in return as he was led to the staircase.

"I can walk myself." he assured Suki, who smirked, letting go of his hand, and walking up the staircase hastily, forcing him to essentially chase after her; when he reached the top of the stairs, he grasped her by the arm, letting her lead him along to their room.

She kissed him on the cheek before taking the key out of his hands, using it to unlock the door; he grasped her shoulders and began to kiss her, first simply on the lips, and then down the neck. She chuckled pushing him back slightly before stepping into their room.

"Maybe we should take this inside." she suggested, offering a hand out for him to take; he was going to take her hand, and he was going to enjoy every following moment he spent with her to the fullest- that was his promise to himself.

* * *

Kneeling before her father in the throne room, Princess Azula felt a sense of unease; Fire Lord Ozai was not someone who would ask upon her at random- every time he called upon her, he had good reason to do so. Last time in had been to essentially mock her over her displacement as Crown Princess, which to his surprise, actually was a non-issue for her. She had redeemed her brother knowing full well that he would be Crown Prince again, and she would no longer be her father's heir, against the interests of the Fire Lord himself. It was not that she purposefully wanted to undermine his will, but rather than her intentions were not to become Fire Lord. If she had desired as such, she would have simply found her uncle, taken him into custody, and let her brother roam the Earth Kingdom a poor vagrant with his Kyoshi Warrior girlfriend.

"Father, I am curious as to why you called on me at such a late hour." she gave her father a simple question, hoping to provoke a response that would give her some understanding of his intentions; she was good at reading people, and all her father needed to do was utter a few words of displeasure or curl his lips, and she would know.

She had been called upon some time after dinner, when she was reading over some of the plans her father's senior military advisers had put in place in case the Avatar's supposed invasion of the Fire Nation that would be taking place on a solar eclipse, only a few weeks away. Her father however, didn't involve her that much in the proceedings of those plans, although she guessed that might be why he had called upon her; she was an instrument of war, and she would be put to use, as she had been in hunting down her brother, uncle and the Avatar.

"I have a role for you to fulfil, my daughter." he curled his lips; she had guessed correctly, it seemed, "When this eclipse comes to pass, I believe that we should best be prepared for whatever the Avatar's lackeys throw our way; even if your brother killed the master of the elements himself, it seems that he had roused some support amongst the enemies of our nation. We will not let them win." he told her with a serious and almost aggrieved tone; he was offended by their resistance, but she knew that he would take pleasure in destroying the enemies of the Fire Nation.

"I have read over the war council's plans, father. I believe that we will be able to hold them off for the whole eight minutes of the eclipse." she acknowledged the given plan.

It was relatively simple plan to execute- the military would hold the defences while the Fire Lord and the royal family hid under the palace in a system of bunkers, as Ozai himself would obviously be the target of the Avatar's allies; they were under the idiotic presumption that removing him from the equation would end the war, which was as idiotic as her father believing that the death of the Avatar was the end of resistance to the Fire Nation's conquest.

"There is one aspect of the plan that I have not discussed with my generals or any of my guards." he explained to the Princess, curling his lips, "I cannot trust them giving away my location if they are captured, so I believe that you should take my place in my personal bunker." he explained, the Princess's eyes widening; if the Avatar was alive, which she was almost certain of, then she would have to face him herself; she had the Dai Li to assist her if need be, as she still had loyal agents accompanying her, but even then, she was under serious threat without her bending.

"I understand, father." she nodded, before her face twitched; her father was essentially going to use her as a meat-shield against the Avatar.

Even if she was able to evade him, he had already gained use of earthbending and waterbending, meaning that it was unlikely she could hold him off for the whole eight minutes; she refused to show her anger, looking back up to her father.

"Is that all you desire of me, father?" he asked her, the fire Lord shaking his head.

"I trust you to do this for me, as you are my loyal and extremely capable daughter." he declared, before his eyes narrowed on her, "If you doubt your own abilities, then Zuko will replace you instead." he flared his teeth, the Princess shaking her head profusely; if her brother and the Avatar were in the same room together, she didn't know what he would do- her thoughts of the potential outcome were not positive at all.

"I will be of service, father. If the Avatar's cronies even make it into the palace, I will make sure they will be of no threat to you." she assured him, the Fire Lord glaring down at her silently for a moment before nodding, curling his lips, confident in her for the moment.

"Good. That is all I require of you. You are not to speak of this plan to anyone." she stressed, the Princess tilting her head down in respect.

"Of course, father." she lied, knowing that if she needed to, Zuko would be told of this plan; he would need to know what was going on, if the Avatar did indeed come for them, "I will retire to my quarters." she explained herself, turning around before walking down through the throne room, feeling a sense of dread; whether the Avatar actually came or not was not the problem, her brother was.

As she walked on down toward the large ornate doors that sat at the other end of the throne room, she clenched her fists, thinking to what she had discussed with her brother on Ember Island. The Avatar was not his enemy, and if their father was, then that could only result in one outcome; he intended to betray him on the day of the eclipse; there was no other way to look at it. As much as she wanted to see her brother as the loyal and determined Prince he made himself out to be, she knew it was a facade to hide his true intentions, the ones that their uncle had offered him, and that his lover had made him accept. Prince Zuko did die in that shipwreck, and it made her gut churn to think who the new Zuko was; he was still her brother, but even then, even as he told her that he loved her, she was unsure what to do. She had a choice, she knew that well enough, but what she did with it, was up to her, and her alone.


	46. The Kyoshi Warriors

_Wiping the sweat from her forehead, Princess Azula curled her lips, realising that her brother was certainly improving, or better phrased, catching up with his bending skills; he was able to go toe to with her, only after a few months of sparring and observing her training. She was almost at the point of believing he was able to defeat her, although he hadn't managed it yet; Zuko was still not as powerful a bender as she, and his bending style was still based off the same old repetitive sets, even if he spruced up his knowledge by observing her more advanced training. She looked up at the Prince, who was similarly tired, after they had spent a good half-hour sparring against each other, although they had taken short breaks; he huffed before stretching his arms up._

_"I think I've had enough for today." he acknowledged, making her curl her lips._

_"Oh, giving up so easily, Zuzu?" she mockingly questioned him, the Prince not taking her words to heart, shrugging his shoulders._

_"If you want to train, you can, but I'm going to wash up. I have a tutor coming to teach me this afternoon." he explained himself, the Princess shrugging her shoulders, seeing that he had a legitimate excuse, even if it was just that, an excuse._

_"Fine then." she dismissed him, "Go make sure you're all prim and proper." she suggested, Zuko turning his heels and walking to the edge of the sparring ground, putting a towel over his shoulders, before leaving the training courtyard, eyeing her momentarily as he exited._

_She sighed, stretching her limbs out to make sure she hadn't strained any of her muscles too bad; her arms hurt somewhat, after having to move and stretch them frequently to bend effectively. She raised her hand up toward the sky, channelling a stream of flames out of it, the orange flames bellowing up into the air above her; she curled her lips, sure that she was still as capable at bending even after a strenuous half-hour of sparring her brother. She yawned, covering her mouth with her hand, before she looked around the sparring yard, her eyelids fluttering as she thought how she ought to spend her afternoon; Azula was in the mood for a fine spa treatment, knowing that always relaxed her, and she was sure that would keep her in a good mood for when Lo and Li would force her to work on her new sets, which despite being simple to catch onto, were boring and straining, both mentally and physically._

_She paced over to the edge of the sparring ground, grabbing a towel form the stack that sat waiting for her, wiping her arms and face of the sweat that had built up, dripping off her as if she had just had a shower; despite her breathing being under control, she always seemed to sweat a lot after a strenuous session of bending, despite the fact she never tried to overexert herself. The Princess curled her lips, considering it to be a part and parcel effect of being a powerful bender; her body had to sweat, the energy of her bending too powerful to contain. Azula shook her head at the thought, realising she was acting far too cocky with little knowledge of those ideas that lay behind bending; no one really did, from what she had learnt from her tutors- each of the elements were well understood in isolation, but as a whole, the bending arts were mysterious in their effects on the body and soul._

_The Princess turned her heels and entered the interior of the palace, walking down a hallway that would lead her to the spa, where she would relax and calm her body after her invigorating spar with her brother; she didn't know why it put her in such a good mood, but she knew that seeing her brother improve just made her happy. It made her believe that he was a worthy son, a good prince, someone their father could respect; even if she wanted to be better than her brother, she didn't want him to be weak or incapable; he was the heir of the Fire Nation, and a good heir should be capable of both fighting and thinking independently of others. As she walked through the palace, she realised she could take a shortcut through another courtyard, which was a garden instead of an area designed for sparring; she immediately turned in the direction of said courtyard, winding down a hallway before entered the well-lit and open area of greenery. As she entered, she caught herself in the midsts of someone she didn't actively seek to find- her uncle; he was sitting by himself with a cup of tea in hand, as he usually was, seemingly taking a break from whatever duties her father had afforded him since he returned to the Fire Nation._

_"Ah, my niece." he greeted her with a bright smile, "I saw that you were sparring with your brother. You are both quite skilled benders for your ages." he acknowledged, making Azula smirk; she didn't like her uncle, but any compliment he gave her she appreciated, assuring her that she was a capable and dutiful princess._

_"Yes, we are." she stressed the 'we', before curling her lips, "I have been helping Zuzu with his bending, and he's gotten a lot better." she placed her hands on her hips, confident in helping her brother become a better firebender._

_"That's good. You ought to spend more time together." Iroh smiled, before offering a cup, "Would you like some tea, my niece?" he asked her, the Princess stepping closer, curling her lips with a question of her own in mind._

_"Would you like to be Fire Lord?" she asked him, the retired general's eyes widening with surprise from her words before they dropped down, the sadness visible in his eyes._

_"No." he acknowledged, before raising a brow, "If that was meant to be a joke?" she asked him, the Princess shrugging her shoulders._

_"I don't know, Uncle." she feigned innocence, "I'm just curious how one goes from being a great general to... well, whatever it is you do now." she gestured to him with his teapot._

_"I am a valued adviser of the Fire Lord, your father..." he stressed, before looking down at his teacup, "And I am simply enjoying one of the many good things in life, tea."_

_She nodded along with a rather contemptuous glance, "Uh-huh, so you're wallowing."_

_He raised a brow at her, "Do you have something to do, or are you here to berate an old man?" he asked her, Azula turning her heels._

_"I'm going to the spa." she told him before walking away, "I'll leave you to your wallowing and tea."_

_Iroh raised a brow at her with surprise, "Uh, goodbye." he gave her a curt wave before sipping from his teacup._

_She returned her focus to walking to the spa as she meandered through the garden, making her way out quickly, before entering the darker halls of the palace once more; she realised that the place would certainly look a lot nicer with some windows, although she also knew that the residence of the Fire Lord ought to give off an aura of power and instil fear into his subjects, something that was best achieved with the dark and foreboding halls she paced through. She curled her lips thinking back to her uncle; unlike him, she was actually trying to help her brother, who had been made far too soft by her mother's influence. She knew her uncle might try to undo her hard work, but she was sure that her brother couldn't return to being who he used to be. He was becoming a dragon, someone who ought to receive the respect of his peers and the adoration of his future subjects; she was sure that her brother would be a great Fire Lord. All she needed was time, and to her luck, she had it in abundance._

* * *

Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Suki blinked a few times as her eyes adjusted the light of the morning sun peering into the room; she raised her head from the bed, feeling her hair messed into into an awkward shape, making her instinctively pat down on it as she glanced to her side, where Zuko lay down, awake lying with his head leaning up on the pillow.

"Good morning." he addressed her, the Kyoshi Warrior rubbing her eyes once more before smiling.

"Uh- good morning." she greeted him in return, Suki leaning in and kissing him on the forehead, before she lay herself back in the bed; he turned his head to face her own, keeping it rested on the pillow as his black locks lay over his cheeks, obscuring his rugged face.

"I can't believe we're here together." he admitted, making her chuckle, raising a brow in thought.

"In the Fire Nation?" she asked in clarification, the Prince breathing in and out deeply before smiling, his eyes peering into her own.

"Not that... we just spent so much time apart, and when we were, we were always focused on doing so much things." he acknowledged, before he chuckled, "Helping refugees and guarding Full Moon Bay did take a lot of work."

She smiled at his words, her left hand reaching over to touch his cheek, moving the hair out of his face, "I know what you mean." she admitted, before she lay herself back down.

"For the first time in a while, I feel like I can relax... even if there's things on my mind." she acknowledged, knowing all too well that the safety and freedom of her warriors was front and centre in her mind; Zuko and her had had their night, and she was quick to jump back to the one thing that she could never seem to have enough of: duty.

"Well, since I'm Crown Prince again," his eyes brightened, a smirk forming on his face, "I'll make sure you don't need to stress yourself out that much." he assured her, before he turned his head up toward the room, "We'll free the Kyoshi Warriors... and then we'll wait.

"Wait?" she raised a brow, "Wait for what?"

His eyes widened, before he turned back to face her, "O-oh, sorry, I forgot to tell you about the eclipse." he apologised, before his eyes narrowed, "In a few weeks time, there's going to be a solar eclipse here in the Fire Nation; when the moon blocks out the sun for a few minutes, it stops all firebending, making us momentarily vulnerable..." he explained, before chuckling, "Well not me specifically. I have the luck of being skilled with swords."

"Yes, you are." she agreed, remembering full well how skilled Zuko was with swords; she would almost go as far to say that it outclassed his bending, although she didn't feel like saying that, knowing it might come off as insulting rather than as a genuine compliment on his skills, "As you were saying." she raised her right fist to hold her head up, showing her interest in what he was explaining, that being a solar eclipse.

"Yes- the solar eclipse, or better known as the Day of Black Sun." he clarified, "When the eclipse comes, my sister explained to me that the Avatar's group have planned an invasion on that day, whether it goes ahead is beside the point, because it provides us with an opportunity; my father will be unable to bend, and I believe that it will give us a chance to dethrone him." he explained himself, the Kyoshi Warrior raising her brows with interest.

"That is quite a good idea... but, are you saying you intend to fight your father when he doesn't have his bending?" she asked him, the Prince looking back up to the roof, his eyes poignant.

"I know we can capture him, but whether we could contain him once his bending returns, I don't know. That's why I need Azula." he explained, Suki's eyes widening, realising what he was saying; if he couldn't beat his father, then the only person who might be willing to was his sister.

"How are you going to persuade her to do that?" she asked the Prince, thinking back to her past experiences with his sister; she wasn't exactly the most kind-hearted individual, and she was unsure whether the Princess would join in Zuko's plans.

"Hopefully I won't need to." he admitted, "I- well I kind of gave her a push. What direction she goes in is up to her, but I hope she will join us."

Although she wasn't a pessimist, remembering what Azula had done to her friends, she dared to ask the question, "What will happen if she doesn't?"

The Prince narrowed his eyes a the roof, "Uncle told me when I explained my intentions that there is a technique I can learn that will allow me to redirect lightning." he explained, before he looked back at her, "With it... I'd be able to beat my father, and if... well... if she were to-" he began to fumble his words, unwilling to say what he thought.

"I know." she held her hand to his face once more, "I know that you don't want that, Zuko."

"I'm sorry." he apologised to her, his eyes poignant and filed with regret, "I've been selfish... I've been trying to help my sister and uncle, when I should have tried to help you." he sighed, acknowledging that he had had a choice in the matter, and he had chosen to help his uncle, which she still to that day thought was the better idea, even if it had backfired in the end.

"But, Zuko. If you had come with the Kyoshi Warriors, we still would have been captured, and your sister would have forced you to join her." she gave her judgement on the matter, "We were going to lose, because your sister wasn't going to give up."

He placed his face in his hands, grumbling with frustration, "I know. She's always been like that."

"Trust me." she grasped his shoulder, leaning in to hug him, "We can do this. Together." she assured the Prince, whose eyes brightened with a tinge of hope.

He smiled back at her, assuring her that he was feeling better, before furrowing a brow in thought, "Did you want to go out for breakfast?" he asked her, the Kyoshi Warrior feigning surprise.

"Oh, are you asking me out on a date?" she questioned, the Prince shrugging with an aloof smile.

"Well, I don't know. It can be one if you want it to be." he suggested, Suki kissing him on the forehead before grinning at him.

"I'd love to."

* * *

When she was walking down the hallway of the palace after her morning sets, Princess Azula hadn't expected to walk into her brother, let alone him walking around in casual clothing rather than his royal robes or armour that he'd been wearing since he returned to the Fire Nation Capital; he smiled and waved to her, seemingly in a far more chirpy mood than usual. The new Zuko was always less grumpy than the old Zuko, but that didn't mean that he was necessarily chirpy; it was the most unusual state to see her brother in, if she were to be completely honest, as seeing him extremely angry would make more sense than being extremely happy.

"Good morning, Zuzu." she addressed him, before narrowing her eyes at him, "You're in an unusually good mood." she acknowledged the obvious, the Prince's eyes darting around.

"Oh, am I?" he asked with a surprised voice, before trying to imitate his usual brooding look, "Is this better?" he asked her, the royal siblings both laughing at his attempt to try and seem as serious and grumpy as possible.

She cleared her throat before turning her heels walking alongside Zuko, "So, brother, where are you headed? You weren't out training last night." she suggested, her brother making a subtle, but registerable blush.

"Oh, yes. I decided to exercise a little differently yesterday." he acknowledged, "I went for a little hike around the Capital City, you see." he explained himself, the Princess's eyes narrowing at her brother; after spending months trekking across the Earth Kingdom, she was surprised to hear that he was spending his spare time walking of all things.

"Well, that's... something different." she took note of his odd behaviour, "Did you want to spar today?" she asked him, the Prince cringing at her.

"I think I'll take it all little easy with sparring after what happened yesterday." he admitted, before instinctively touching his upper torso, "My chest is pretty bruised from that hit; I nearly died in a shipwreck, and the bruises I got from that weren't as bad as you trying to break my ribs."

She chuckled at his suggestion, "I wasn't trying to break your ribs, Zuzu. That's just a side-effect of deflecting each other's bending." she explained to him, her brother looking at her with slight distaste before shaking his head.

"Anyway, yeah. I'll lay off the sparring for a bit, but I do actually want to ask you something." he suggested, the Princess's eyes widening.

"Oh, really?" she asked with a feigned tone of surprise; her brother was up to something, she could already tell, even if she didn't know what."

"You remember that war-balloon you had on the Royal Barge. The one you showed off when we got on it back in Ba Sing Se?" he asked her, the Princess nodding; she had acquired said balloon with the intent of using it to hunt down her brother, although it wasn't required, as she had been able to take the Kyoshi Warrior's outfits to get into Ba Sing Se rather than having to fly in.

"Certainly. The vehicle is small, but capable of some impressive flight." she acknowledged, before he leaned in closer.

"Do you know how I can... get one of those?" he asked her, the Princess's eyes widening with surprise.

"Sorry, you want a war-balloon?" she asked with confusion, "What would you need that for?" she asked Zuko, who shrugged his shoulders, as if it weren't a weird question to ask of her.

"Sightseeing." he clarified, before curling his lips, "I heard that it's like riding a dragon... or a sky-bison."

"Well, that would likely be about right." she admitted, "I haven't flown in one yet, myself, but I've heard from the War Minister of the possibilities available to the Fire Nation because of them. Supposedly he's having a bigger version be built as a new kind of war machine."

"Well, I would like to try out this new technology." he explained himself, "It's not everyday that you get to try out something that barely anyone has used before."

She curled her lips, "I'll talk to the War Minister and see what he can do." she offered, before narrowing her eyes at her brother, suspicious of his intentions, "Did you want to play some Pai Sho or something instead?" she asked him, the Prince shrugging his shoulders.

"Ah, yeah, that's not too bad an idea." he acknowledged, before sighing, eyeing with slight disdain, "Even if I'm definitely going to lose." he admitted, making her snicker, patting him on the shoulder as if to act supportively.

"Oh, brother, at least you're going to try; that will make my victory all the more sweeter." she clenched a fist confidently, making Zuko roll his eyes before gesturing ahead of them, as if to tell her to start walking.

"Fine, where are we going to play?" he asked the Princess, who raised a finger to her chin as they both began to stride down the hallway.

"In one of the courtyards, of course. We need to soak in the blessings of the sun while we're at it." she suggested to her brother, who raised his brow sceptically.

"Uh-huh, I'm unsure the sun will affect your Pai Sho skills in the same way it might affect firebending." he made a reasonable conclusion, though she took it as an opportunity to mock him.

"Yeah, that's right, Zuzu. I won't need my bending to defeat you today." she curled her lips, the Prince increasing his pace as they continued to move on down the hall; she increased her own speed to compensate, curling her lips at him.

"Prodding me isn't going to make me care for something like Pai Sho." he warned her, his eyes looking back at her with distaste, "Being unable to beat anyone at it has left me... well, I don't ever really expect to win."

"Well, perhaps you should try to be confident in your abilities?" she suggested to him, raising a finger to point at his head, "Whatever muddling up of your head occurred in that shipwreck, it has made you a master of trickery and unpredictability." she declared, "That's why I think you might... maybe... possibly have a chance." she reverted to her previous stance; she wanted her brother to try, but that didn't mean that she didn't still want to win.

Zuko looked at her with some surprise, before shrugging his shoulders, turning a corner to head toward the nearest courtyard, "Fine, I'll try." he assured her, before he walked out into the courtyard, the pair spotting the Pai Sho table that sat in the centre of the garden; supposedly that was where their uncle and grandfather used to play Pai Sho against each other, although neither of them had ever been that fond of the game. They sat down on each side of the board, staring each other down until the Princess grabbed the bag of pieces, a smug grin forming on her face.

"Who will go first, brother?" she asked him, the Prince raising a brow; a player's strategy would be determined by whether they or the other player went first.

He leaned over to grasp a tile from within the bag, "Whoever pulls out the first lotus tile plays first." he gave his idea, Azula's mouth opening slightly as she looked at him with surprise.

"Huh- is here any reason you're specifically going for the lotus tile?" she asked him, the Prince curling his lips; whatever had happened on his trip across the Earth Kingdom, something had given Zuko a certain preference to that tile above others, something that was sure of once she heard his aloof response.

"No reason. It's just a Pai Sho tile, isn't it?" he asked a rhetorical question, the princess crossing her arms and raising a brow sceptically at him; their uncle loved Pai Sho and tea, and she had an inkling that one of those might have had something to do with his treachery more than the other.

"Is it?"

* * *

Eating the slop that was a poor excuse for a meal, Nakata felt a sense of distaste for the prison she and her warriors had called home for a good few weeks; they had been transported from the Fire Nation compound they had raided to the Fire Nation homeland, where the weather was always hot and muggy, and she felt like she was going catch some kind of disease from just breathing the air. It took her some time, but she got used to it; across from her on the table were her fellow warriors, who were as disdainful of their lunch as much as she was. Amari was especially disgusted, grimacing as she took each bite.

"Urgh... I miss Iroh's tea." she sighed, placing her palm over her cheek, "If only the prison had tea. That'd make me tolerate this shit-hole a little more." she grumbled, Esumi nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, the Fire Nation doesn't seem to treat war-prisoners to anything like that, it seems." she voiced her observations, eyeing the guards who stood at the corners of the room, watching over them all with suspicious eyes; their prison was full of prisoners from the war, although they were only non-benders- nearly all of them were from the Earth Kingdom, except for a few stray Water Tribe prisoners.

"I hate this place." Nakata sighed, "I just wish we hadn't gone after that sky-bison; we'd be perfectly fine right now if it weren't for it." she acknowledged the truth of the matter, Amari shaking her head.

"As much as I'd love to agree with you, the Avatar is the person who's trying to save the world, remember? If we have to go to prison for helping him, I guess that's just how it is. We did our part... and now we're facing the consequences."

"That sounds like more of a gripe about leaving the island in the first place." Sawa suggested, the other Kyoshi Warrior shrugging her shoulders.

"I miss the cold mornings. The beach. The sound of little kids laughing. I miss home." she admitted, "Admit it. You all do too." she prodded the group, forcing sad but honest nods out of the group of warriors.

"Well, there's not much we can do about it, is there?" Nakata sighed, turning her eyes away from her meal, "I'm eating any more of this crap." she grumbled, "I'm going out to the yard."

"Is it time to exercise?" Esumi asked her, to which she curled her lips.

"You're welcome to join. As long as you're okay with the other prisoners peeving on us." she raised a finger, making the other Kyoshi Warriors all grimace.

"That's fucking gross." Amari covered her mouth, "No thanks." she shook her head.

Nakata shrugged at her fellow warriors, still wanting to stay in shape despite being stuck in prison; she never knew when she would need to be ready for battle again, after all. Esumi did end up following her, and the two of them made their way out of the prison canteen, quickly making their way to the yard; the guards eyed them momentarily, but did nothing to stop them from walking outside; as long as prisoners did what they were told, and they did the work that was required of them, they wouldn't be harassed by the guards. That was her experience at least, and she knew a lot of the guards were intimidated by the tougher men and not by her and the other Kyoshi Warriors, even if they could throw a pretty decent punch themselves.

When she and Esumi got out into the yard, they found somewhere that was relatively free of prisoners, and she indicated to the ground, "Push-ups and some planks. At least that way the others won't peeve on us... that much." she raised a finger, making the other warrior look at her with relief.

"Well, that's good to hear.." she smiled back at her, before dropping to the ground, beginning to do some push-ups, raising herself up from nearly touching the ground with her nose to as high as her arms would hold her.

Nakata did the same, keeping pace with her fellow warrior, making sure that her push-ups were long enough that she was truly feeling the strain that it ought to cause; the pain ensured her that she was working herself- if couldn't take a few push-ups, then she wouldn't be any use in an actual fight. Soon enough she moved from doing push-ups to simply holding herself above the ground in a plank form, her arms holding her torso up, while her toes kept her legs off of the ground; she couldn't hold it any longer than half a minute, probably due to overexerting herself with push-ups, much couldn't help but be annoyed when Esumi pulled a smug grin, holding her plank for at least a dozen seconds longer her.

"Oh, who's the tough one now?" she jested, Nakata rolling her eyes, not caring that much about the physical competition between the Kyoshi Warriors that was well understood to exist.

"I don't care about push-ups. I'm the smart one." she declared, making the other warrior snicker.

"Suki's definitely smarter." she suggested, the Kyoshi Warrior face-palming; there was a reason that she was the leader of their group.

"Yeah, that's why she's our boss, not me." she stressed, the other Kyoshi Warriors raising a brow as she turned around, ready to do some sit-ups.

"Huh, I think Amari would like to dispute that." she suggested, Nakata scoffing at her suggestion; Amari was certainly the toughest in the group, and more and likely the best at fighting, but she wasn't exactly the forward-thinking type- more of an in-the-moment-break-your-nose kind of girl.

"She's not our boss, because she'd probably get us killed with her crazy desire to fight." she raised a finger, before imitating her fellow warrior, turning to lie on her back, beginning some sit-ups, which were a pain to do after her push-ups and plank.

"Speaking of which..." Esumi pointed out, Nakata's eyes widening as she rose from one of her sit-ups, seeing Amari before them in the yard, shouting down a tough looking prisoner who was a whole two heads taller than her; when she found herself punched in the face, the two Kyoshi Warrior's gasped, before Nakata sighed.

"As much as she probably deserved that, I'm going to have to go help her." she acknowledged, the warrior beside her feigning surprise.

"Oh, well, that's nice of you. I'll just continue my sit-ups, thank you." she dodged helping out, Nakata rolling her eyes before standing up; she took a stance, ready to fight the man who was throwing fists at the antagonistic warrior who may or may not have asked for the fist that collided with her nose, splattering blood over her face and making her flare her teeth with anger.

"You bastard!" she declared, before the man pushed her out of the way, throwing her to the ground before she could even try to attack him; behind him, Nakata readied herself, knowing that she had to deal with the tough looking prisoner before he gave Amari more than a blood nose.

"Hey, moron!" she called out the prisoner, whose eyes turned her way, before he was flung off his feet by her leg tripping him, throwing him onto his back; she stood over him for a moment, the prisoner flaring his teeth.

"Argh! I'll get you bitches!" he declared, before she sent a foot into the middle of his chest, his sternum audibly cracking; he screamed out in pain before she walked over to help Amari up, who was covering her nose to try and stop the blood pouring down her face.

"U-uh thanks..." she mumbled, giving Nakata a thankful smile; before she could offer her fellow warrior a hand, she felt it grasped by an unseen hand, before her shoulders were grasped too.

"Prisoner! You're going in solitary for violent behaviour." one of the guards who was holding her declared.

"I didn't start the fight." she flared her teeth, eyeing the guards who had restrained her; they didn't respond however, but she quickly heard a response from the injured Kyoshi Warrior below her.

Amari snickered, wiping the blood from her nose, "But she finished it good." she declared, the guards eyeing her with disdain.

"You get a warning. If you try anything like that again, you'll go the same way as your friend." one of the guards snarled at her, the Kyoshi Warrior turning away, letting the guards simply manhandle her friend.

"Amari! Damn you!" she grumbled, realising it was all her fault; being held back by handcuffs, she was unable to go and beat her friend for her idiotic behaviour, and was dragged quite unwillingly back out of the yard toward the solitary cells, which she hadn't visited until that point.

* * *

Pulling a cloak over his head, Zuko turned to face Suki, who wore the same dark-coloured disguise as him; they would need to conceal their identities when they showed up to the prison, otherwise they would be a lot of strife. He had learnt of the storage location for the experimental war-balloons from War Minister Qin, and he and his girlfriend had taken it upon themselves to immediately investigate the locale; it was a factory just outside of the Caldera City, and the pair had walked there at sundown, arriving just after dark. The security hadn't been much of a hassle for them to deal with, the two of them knocking out a few of the security personnel before finding what they were looking for; it took him a few tries to actually turn on the war-balloon, which he could luckily power with his firebending. Now as they were flying high above the Fire Nation Capital, Zuko's eyes were focused on the city below him, trying to spot the prison they were intending to break into; he had a map in hand, his finger tracing along from the landmarks he could see to the prison they intended to enter. The locale was supposedly a large compound, which was located on the north side of the caldera, but due to the darkness he couldn't see it; the prison obviously wasn't well lit, and that was probably because it was locked down during night time. He realised that daytime prison break would have been easier to achieve, where they could scoop the Kyoshi Warriors out of the yard and leave, but there was the threat of the war-balloon being tracked down, while at night, such a possibility was nigh implausible, as there was no way for the prison guards to follow them if they flew away.

"Can you see it yet?" Suki wondered aloud, the Prince shaking his head, narrowing his eyes as he glanced down the rim of the caldera, looking anything that would earmark the prison- guard towers and large walls; he certainly didn't want to mistake a military base for a prison.

"Not just yet." he sighed, before placing his hand before the engine, "We need to get lower, luckily the moon isn't out, so the guards won't spot us."

He used his firebending to draw the heat out of the flames, causing the balloon to slowly lower from their current height; eventually, by the time they were as low as the rim of the caldera, he was able to make out the silhouette of the walls of what he could only guess was the prison. The bright sand of the yard was distinctively made out from the rest of the prison, which was exactly where he intended to land.

"Found it!" he exclaimed, before narrowing his eyes, his face turning from one of surprise to a serious and steely glare, one which he had perfected over his years of being an angsty and determined teenager, "Let's do this."

Holding his hand over the engine, he used his firebending to keep their descent steady, Zuko's eyes narrowed down at the yard below his feet; one mistake, and he could find himself in quite an unwanted situation- if his father ever found out that he was breaking enemies of the Fire Nation out of prison, he'd probably have him thrown in prison with his uncle for treason. When the basket finally made contact with the ground, he heard the wood and wicker surface loudly scratch along the gravelly yard, moving for a few metres before finally coming to a complete stop.

"How do we know which cell the Kyoshi Warriors are going to be in?" Suki whispered to him, the Prince curling his lips.

"The prison's office area will have documents that will tell us just that." he told her, before his eyes narrowed at the doors that led into the prison itself, "Stay light on your feet." he suggested, before vaulting out of the basket, his feet firmly landing on the gravelly surface.

He raced forward toward one of the doorways, which seemed to lead into a cell-block; he used his firebending to melt the lock of the door within a few seconds, before slowly pushing the door ajar, as to not alert any of the guards present. Narrowing his eyes down the hallway, he sighed with relief, realising there were no guards present; he was proven wrong however, as he heard the sound of a door opening at the other end of the cell-block. To his luck it was around a corner, giving him and Suki the chance to lean up against the wall.

She grasped his shoulder, and although her mouth was covered by a mask, he could see the outline of her smirk, "I can handle this." she assured him, drawing out a baton which he had given to her as a substitute for her fans, which he still had to track down; his sister had taken the Kyoshi Warrior's uniform and weapons, but the Prince had no idea where they had been taken after they left Ba Sing Se.

Holding the baton out, she awaited the guard, whose footsteps became louder with time, the light of a torch in their hand lighting up the hallway around the corner; as soon as the guard turned around the corner, they yelped, before he heard the sound of a baton striking them. There was no thumping of an unconscious body on the ground, and peering around the corner, Zuko realised that the Kyoshi Warrior had skilfully knocked the guard out and held up against the wall, allowing them slide down slowly and not make any noise that would alert the other guards. Making their way around the corner, they reached the other end of the cell-block, the Prince opening the door with a pair of keys that he had swiped off the knocked out guard; the door was pushed slowly, to make sure no loud creaking noises came from it's movement. When it finally opened, he sighed with relief, before continuing to walk on down the hallway, which was now in what seemed to be the solitary confinement section of the prison, where small cells housed prisoners temporarily; as he walked on down the hallway, he tensed up, hoping none of the prisoners were awake. He turned to Suki, making a hushing motion, before he continued slowly edge on past.

"Prison break?" he heard a voice call out, a tough looking prisoner peering through the bars; his eyes filling with fear, realising what would happen if the prisoner spoke any further.

He raised a finger, filling it with flames, before pointing it at the man, "Be quiet unless you want to end up like a roast komodo-rhino." he demanded, the man stepping back away from his cell door with an obvious grimace of fear.

Then he was surprised by a very familiar voice behind him, "The Blue Spirit has come to save me himself." he heard the surprised voice of Nakata, "I knew you'd come eventually."

Suki turned to the cell in which her subordinate was being held, "Nakata..." she whispered, the other warrior reaching up to the bars of her cell.

"Suki, it's- it's good to see you." she beamed with a smile, "Are you and the ash-maker here to break us out?" she asked, the pair nodding along, making Nakata smirk.

"Good, I know where the others' cells are." she smirked, before putting a hand through the bars, "It'd help if you melted the handle." she asked of him, the Prince grasping the lock of the cell, before he melted it with his firebending, allowing Nakata to push the cell open from the inside.

"Thanks." she curled her lips, before raising a brow, "A weapon, please." she requested from Suki, who rolled her eyes, giving the other warrior one of her batons, "Follow me." she requested, leading the pair toward the other warriors with haste.

Nakata's pace surprised him, although he guessed she was wanting to hastily leave the prison she had been held in for a few weeks; the place didn't seem like it had been that kind to her, seeing that she was in a solitary cell when they encountered her.

Soon enough he was hit with another request, "Door, please." she asked of him, the Prince quickly melting through another door lock, allowing the warrior inside to push the door open.

"Thanks." she smiled at him, before she looked to the other Kyoshi Warrior, "I might need a weapon." she admitted, Suki handing her one of her batons before the group quickly paced off out of the solitary confinement section, Nakata directing them to where the other warriors would be.

They made their way through another cell-block, where a guard was standing, before they could even try and alert another guard, he was knocked out by a baton being flung into his neck, throwing him down to the ground, before Suki quickly knocked him out with a kick to the chin. Nakata sighed with relief, before looking down disdainfully at the guard; she then continued to lead them down through the cell block to another door, which Zuko opened with the keys once more.

"This is it." the Kyoshi Warrior smiled, before she began to pace along down the length of the corridor lined with cells.

She whacked the doors of a number of cells with her baton; the sounds of groans and mumbles indicated to him that she was waking up the other Kyoshi Warriors.

"It's breakout time, girls!" she exclaimed, the Kyoshi Warriors' faces appearing at the bars of their doors, awe in their eyes.

"It's about time." he heard Amari announce her feelings of distaste toward their time in the prison, "You took your time, your majesty."

He curled his lips, using his firebending openly to melt the door lock, before spinning around, coiling whips of fire into each of the door locks and melting them, allowing all of the warriors to break out.

When the Kyoshi Warriors were all out of their cells, Zuko and Suki immediately broke into running down the hallway, with the head warrior calling out to direct her warriors, "Come on! We need to go, right now!" she ordered them, the group obliging without question, as they made their way to the door at the end of the cell-block, leading them outside once more.

The Prince's eyes widened, seeing a number of guards investigating the war-balloon which sat in the middle of the yard; their faces turned to them with surprise and shock.

"Prison break!" he heard one of the guards shout out, the Prince sighing, before he funnelled a powerful stream of flames out of his hand, catching the guards unaware; they shouted out in horror, being licked by his flames.

To his frustration a number of them were firebenders, and were able to disperse his attack, but that didn't help them when both Suki and Nakata raced forward, knocking them unconscious with their batons; he sent volleys of fire at the guards, distracting them while the other Kyoshi Warriors tackled and beat them, giving him a free path to get back into the basket of the war-balloon. As soon as he got in, he funnelled a stream of flames into the engine, the sparks from the hot coals flying out, forcing the Prince to cover his face as the sparks burnt his skin. He grunted with pain, but turned back to the warriors at once, calling out in a fearful tone; he couldn't let his friends down- they had to escape.

"Get on! Everyone!" he shouted, catching the attention of the warriors; by that point Nakata and Suki had taken care the guards in the yard, even if more of them would be coming to deal with escapees.

The warriors all jumped in the basket, Zuko quickly realising that it wasn't probably designed for six people, but with the engine running, the balloon was still able to rise, and rose the group up into the sky above the prison yard. The shouts of guards could be heard below, but the Prince could only smirk as their attempts to stop them with firebending failed; they were moving too fast, and none of them had good enough aim to strike them. He sighed with relief, smiling as he realised their escape had succeeded; as the balloon rose up high into the sky, he looked with Suki with a confident smile, her own face mirroring his own.

"We did it."


	47. The Decision

_"General Iroh, we've spotted land."_

_Wiping the sleep from his eyes, Iroh blinked a few times, adjusting to the light of early morning; the moment he saw where it was, it all flashed back to him- their ship being attacked, Zuko disappearing, being forced to abandon it on a steamer. The crew looked rather shaken from the events, all of them either half-asleep or peering out toward the shoreline that Jee had just spoken of. He peered out a window, looking out to the water, where he could see the land the Lieutenant mentioned, taking note that it went to both sides of the horizon; he guessed that they had arrived at the coast of the Earth Kingdom, which they were quite close to, having only left a port on the south coast two days prior. He was unsure if the lands they were about to land in were friendly, but he was sure that they'd find a Fire Nation port sooner or later, knowing that the navy had outposts across all of the Earth Kingdom's extensive coast bar the areas directly to the east of the Ba Sing Se. Above everything else, Zuko was on his mind; his nephew's fate, if he had truly perished in the attack, wouldn't have been a long and painful one, but it would have been horrific nonetheless. He didn't want to believe he was dead, but he had no evidence to the contrary; it was possible he was just thrown off the deck, but if he had been, then it would have made more sense that they would have found him in the water. As they approached the shoreline, a few of the men stood ready at the bow of the steamer, ready to drop some anchors; they would need to find out where they were before they decided to travel either east or west along the coast. He steamer they had was designed for short distance travel, probably only a hundred miles or so, and without a set destination in mind, it was to risky to sail in any one direction without orienting themselves._

_He turned to Jee, who was looking over a map alongside the helmsman, "Do we know where we are?" he asked the pair, the helmsman looking up with an uncertain face._

_"The winds and currents mean we could have travelled some distance to the west of our previous recorded location, even though we were trying to sail as the bird flies toward the mainland, General." he acknowledged, tracing his finger along the map, "But if I were to make an educated guess, we're likely around thirty miles east of Chin village, which is located here." he pointed down to a marked locale, Iroh's eyes narrowing at the map._

_Although if the helmsman's guess was right they would be within a days sailing of a Fire Nation port, he was unsure if they even had enough fuel to get there; the crew did not fuel the steamer before the ship sank, because of the panic, and it hadn't been used in a few months, and as such, only had the left overs from when his nephew had last used it on his search for the Avatar._

_"Drop the anchors. Let's try and check around the shore to see if we figure out where we are." he directed the men, who nodded, pulling the chains of the anchors to ensure they were ready to drop as soon as the steamer was close enough to the shoreline, "Jee, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like you to lead the landing party with me." he suggested, the Lieutenant nodding._

_"Of course, General. I'm ready to make sure we can all get to safety." he assured him, the retired general smiling before looking down at the map, raising a brow with interest._

_"Where was our last location, again?" he asked the helmsman, who pointed out a dot on a route that he had been tracking; Iroh took note that around their last location was a few islets as well as one larger island bearing the name of a former Avatar called Kyoshi._

_"Hmmm... I'm just curious if any of these islands were infested with pirates. They might have been the one's to attack us last night." he suggested, the helmsman shaking his head._

_"I always check any reports by the Navy or the Southern Raiders about pirates, and I haven't heard of any recent reports in this area." he explained to Iroh, who nodded along with understanding._

_"Hmph- so that most likely rules out pirates as those who tried to attack us." he scratched at his goatee, thinking about the possible enemies that might have decided to attack their vessel._

_It was a fast-paced and coordinated attack, one which he believed could have only been undertaken by two groups of people, that being pirates and the Fire Navy itself; there was also the Southern Water Tribe, although he doubted they would have the firepower to undertake such a damaging attack on a Fire Nation ship, even if they were well motivated to do so._

_"There is only one other answer to your question... sir." the helmsman grimaced, obviously coming to the same conclusion as he did._

_Iroh shook his head, not wanting to think of such things, "I know, but there's a more pressing matter- we need to get to safety." before he turned to the Lieutenant, who was standing near the bow of the ship, crouching slightly as he stared out to the fast approaching shoreline, "Lieutenant, are we ready to head ashore?"_

_"Indeed, General. Drop the anchors!" he ordered the sailors, who let the chains fall, the anchors striking the sandy beach below their boat almost instantly, due to their boat being quite small, able to approach the shore where others would be grounded._

_A few sailors jumped down into the waist high water, striding forward through the short waves toward the shoreline; the retired general slowly lowered himself off the side of the steamer, before wading himself closer to the shore. His robes ended up quite wet, but that didn't matter; he was there to save the crew of the ship he had enjoyed the company of for nearly three whole years. As he approached the beach, his eyes narrowed with determination; although he had sworn off such selfish and spiteful behaviours after his defeat at Ba Sing Se, he decided to make an exception in the conscious for the person or people responsible for his nephew's possible demise. They would suffer a fate worse than whatever became of his nephew, whether by his hands or by ones more righteous than his own._

* * *

Walking through the dark hallways of the Capital City Prison, Zuko realised that it was a very different place to the one he had broken the Kyoshi Warriors out of a few days prior; the structure of it was built into the wall of the caldera, a large stone citadel, sitting imposingly above the barren land around it. The guards had grown to not question his visits, knowing the retribution that would come their way if they protested or worse, tried to tell someone. He was the Crown Prince after all, and a common guard had the responsibility of holding his secret. Walking past the flame torches that lined the halls, he walked past all the empty cells that sat in the section his uncle was being held, which had been afforded to him, perhaps because of his previous standing as a general and as Crown Prince of the Fire Nation. His uncle was sitting down with his eyes down, looking like he had fallen asleep meditating; however, his gravelly voice calling out to him indicated to him that he was not asleep, or meditating- he was waiting for him.

"I was wondering when you would arrive, my nephew." he looked up at him, his face not showing much emotion other than the interest he held toward whatever Zuko intended to say.

"I have good news, Uncle." he smiled at him, before sitting down before his uncle, "Suki and I freed the Kyoshi Warriors three days ago. It was... an experience, and I was very happy to find them all in one piece." he admitted, Iroh smiling at him, before he raised a brow.

"Where did they go... I can't expect that you're keeping them all housed in the palace. That would be a little too suspicious." he acknowledged, the Prince giving him a smile.

"I took them to an abandoned farmhouse not too far from the caldera, and gave them the airship I stole; we hid it in a barn, but it's ready for us to use when we need to." he explained, the retired general nodding along.

"So, is this your plan? To evacuate from the Capital with your friends with the war-balloon?" he asked him, the Prince shaking his head; that was his backup plan if he failed with his first one.

"I want a backup plan... just in case we don't win." he admitted, "The Avatar and his friends... or should I say, 'Team Avatar', will be coming to attack the Fire Nation on the eclipse as well, which provides me with some cover and the perfect opportunity for you to escape prison." he explained to Iroh, who chuckled his eyes rising to meet his own.

"Well, nephew, that was my plan." he acknowledged, before raising a hand, gesturing him to continue explaining.

"We will take down Father together. All of us." he smiled hopefully, "But I need to make sure the last Pai Sho piece is in play." he explained, the general smiling at his mention of a Pai Sho metaphor.

"Azula." his expression became more serious upon uttering her name, "You'll need Azula on side with our plans... which means she'll have to know what we're doing." he concluded, the Prince shaking his head.

"Not necessarily." he stressed, "My sister is a bit like a lightning bolt; she's dangerous, but as long as she's directed away from you... she'll be fine."

Iroh's eyes widened, "Uh... speaking of which, I think this would be a good time to mention lightning redirection." he admitted, the Prince looking back his uncle with surprise.

"Sorry, what? Lightning can be redirected?" he asked him, who nodded to confirm Zuko wasn't mishearing him.

"Taking the same principles I showed you with 'waterbending' fire, you can do the same with lightning by channelling it from one hand through your gut and back out of your hand." he explained, imitating the motions as he explained them, before looking at him with a serious face, "It is extremely dangerous, nephew, and I don't recommend you try and use the technique without a little practice."

"Practice..." he raised a finger to his chin, before his eyes widened, realising what Iroh was actually telling him to do, "You want Azula to shoot lightning at me on purpose?" he asked his uncle with a fearful tone; he had learned how to modulate his lightning-bending to make a non-fatal method of dealing with his enemies, but he was unsure whether his sister had ever tried to do that.

"Well, yes." he confirmed his fears, "If she does want to help you take down your father, then she should help you learn this power; it is extremely important that you know how to use it, if you desire to face your father in a one-on-one fight."

"Uncle... I don't know if this is a good idea. Can't we just... I don't know, be faster than my father?" he asked him, the retired general shaking his head.

"You will not be faster than your father, Zuko. Neither will your sister. Not even I could generate lightning at the speed your father is refuted to be able to do so." he assured him with a grimace, "He has refined his skill to the point at which no other firebender alive could beat him on a one on one confrontation without my technique."

"Then I guess I'll have to learn it." he sighed, Iroh smiling at him.

"You will, you both will. I am sure Azula will join you." he admitted, the Prince sighing, before giving his uncle an uncertain but genuine smile.

"I do too, Uncle. Let us hope that she sees what he really is."

* * *

Holding out a fan, she blocked Amari's attempt to punch her in the face, Suki curling her lips, acknowledging that her warrior's were just as good as when she had last fought beside them; despite spending nearly two months in prison, the Kyoshi Warriors all seemed to be up to speed with their fighting reflexes. She sent a leg out to trip her opponent, who instead sidestepped her swinging leg, before jabbing her in the gut; the leader of the Kyoshi Warrior flinched back, relenting to cough from the sharp pain to her abdomen, before deflecting another punch that came her way. Amari attempted to grab her arm to throw her out of the way, but she got loose before she had the chance, somersaulting and rising behind the other warrior; she turned to kick Suki, who grabbed her foot before throwing her leg up, making her stumble back onto her behind, yelping from surprise.

"Ow!" she groaned, looking across to her leader, who wiped the sweat from her forehead before smiling.

"That was a pretty good run, Amari." she acknowledged, knowing that she was trying her very best to defeat her; the two of them had been sparring for a good five minutes before she had been disarmed by Suki, and then was forced to try and beat her with her hands alone.

She looked to the other warriors, who were all doing exercises to improve their fighting skills and physical strength, "Now, does anyone else want to try against me?" she asked the group, who looked at her with surprise; Nakata raised a hand, sighing as she volunteered herself as the leader's punching bag.

"I guess I'll give it a shot." she acknowledged, Amari walking up to her and patting her shoulder.

"Thanks, Nakata. You'll have a fun time, won't you?" she jested, the other warrior's eyes narrowing at her with distaste.

"I'll beat you in a spar too, if that's what you'd like." she suggested, Amari raising her hands, before touching her lightly bruised face.

"No thanks, I'll just do some sit-ups with Sawa." she refused, walking over to the mentioned warrior and sitting down beside her, joining her in her sets of sit-ups.

Suki's eyes turned to her friend who had volunteered herself for a spar, "I'm going to get a drink of water first. I need to be at the best of my ability." she suggested, the other warrior shrugging her shoulders.

"Eh, that's fine, I needed a toilet break anyway." she told her with a rather relieved voice, before pacing off to the outhouse of their current abode; the farmhouse Zuko had led them to was old and was pretty much falling apart when they arrived, and the group had to empty the toilet themselves, much to their disgust.

She quickly paced herself over to the house itself, which was an old stone brick house, with a clay brick shingle roof; the interior was full of old, odd smelling wood furnishings and walls, the paper dividers of the house having decayed before they arrived. She walked over to the kitchen, where there was a large boiler, fuelled by charcoal; it was effective for both cooking and water purification, as the water they drank had to be sourced from a nearby stream, as the rainfall around was insufficient to make a water tank. Back on Kyoshi Island, she had much preferred drinking melted snow, which was cleaner and sharper tasting than the water they drank in the Fire Nation, which almost tasted metallic, like the blood that filled her mouth after being punched too hard. She turned on the boiler, which quickly began to heat up the water that was already present; once it had reached a high enough temperature, she let the water come out of the boiler, hoping that the fact it had already been purified once earlier that day when they were having breakfast meant that it was going to be still potable. She smelled the water, and the fact it didn't smell like dirt was a good enough indication to her that it was clean; she took a sip, letting the warm liquid rush down her throat and into her gut, the feeling as if she was drinking tasteless tea, although it didn't keep that same warm feeling for very long. Walking out of the kitchen, she wiped the water from her lips before returning to the yard where she and the warriors had been training; Nakata stood before her with an uneasy face, obviously not having enjoyed her time at the outhouse.

"So... ready to 'fan-up'?" she asked the head warrior, pulling out her golden fans; having their weapons returned to them was a bit of a surprise, after Zuko had showed up the day prior with their uniforms and weapons, which he had retrieved from storage on his sister's Royal Barge.

Although the Kyoshi Warriors were not wearing their full garb, as it would raise suspicion from anyone who came to the farm, she still felt that with their things back, they were truly the Kyoshi Warriors once more, and not prisoners of the Fire Nation.

"Let's do this." she curled her lips, pulling her two fans out, ready to spar her subordinate and see if she had gotten better or worse from her time in prison; from her outfit, she could tell that she had been working out a lot, and she looked to be the most muscular and lean member of the group, although all of them had gotten a bit skinnier, due to the insufficient diet that they had in prison.

She stepped forward, taking a fighting stance with her left foot forward, and her left arm stretched out with a fan on the ready, able to move to dodge and block any incoming attacks that came her way; Nakata's first strike came as a high kick, aimed to disarm Suki. Although the attack was swift and forceful, she was able to drop her arm slightly, allowing her fan to direct her opponent's kick, her foot rising higher into the air, giving the head warrior a chance to send her right-hand in, her retracted fan aiming to strike her opponent's open side. She dropped, dodging the jab, before she opened her stance, her right-handed fan coming to strike Suki's left, the two metal weapons clanging as they struck each other. After a moment of holding each other off, the head warrior moved her foot inward to try and trip Nakata, who surprised her by stepping on her toes, holding her in position while she jabbed her in the gut with her own retracted fan; being hit in the gut again made her want to belch, falling back for a moment before grabbing her opponent's arm, which came down to strike her with a fan once more. Suki ducked under her, quickly moving to hit her back with a fan, before thrusting her forward, making her nearly stumble to the ground; she regained her footing quickly enough, making another high kick to strike the leader of the Kyoshi Warrior square in the face. She barely ducked under her attack, moving in to clothesline Nakata with her left arm; when her arm struck her side, it threw her right off of her feet, with the side effect of sending Suki herself head-first into the dirt. She yelped as she rolled on the ground, dirtying her sparring outfit, which only consisted of some Fire Nation style baggy pants with a crop top; eyeing her subordinate, who lay beside her, she made an uneasy smile.

"A draw?" she asked, Nakata stretching her neck about to make sure she hadn't hurt herself before nodding.

"Yep. Let's not try that move again." she acknowledged, before she heard a familiar voice behind her.

"Well... I didn't expect to find you all like this." she heard Zuko's voice call out, her head turning around to see him standing before the warriors, wearing his 'casual disguise' standing with a bag over his shoulder.

"Ooo... what did you bring this time?" Sawa peered up from her sit-up, the Prince chuckling to himself before approaching Suki, offering her a hand to help her up; she accepted it, and dusted the dirt off of her clothes before eyeing the bag suspiciously.

"I am intrigued. What did you bring for us today?" she inquired, the Prince chuckling.

"Well, it's just for you, actually." he told her, Nakata peering up with a disappointed face.

"Aw... I thought you weren't going to just be for a couples present." she sighed, Zuko shaking his head.

"This isn't a couple's present. It's actually a very important thing for our plans." he explained himself, dropping the bag down, which made a metallic clunk, "I got you a Royal Guard's outfit. It should give you a free pass to roam around the palace." he explained, the head warrior curling her lips.

"Oh... so I'm going to the palace now?" she asked him with a suggestive smirk, the Prince blushing before his eyes darted away.

"Uh... yeah. I might need your help, you know?" he tried to make himself seem as inconspicuous as possible, but she saw past his words, patting his shoulder reassuringly.

"I'd love to help you subvert your father... among other things."

* * *

Opening the door before her, Princess Azula sighed, realising she really didn't want to talk to her uncle. She knew she had to talk to someone that wasn't Zuko, even if she stood against everything her uncle stood for; the weakness of the Fire Nation was his doing- the failure of his siege at Ba Sing Se was his doing, her cousin's death remaining unavenged was his too. She thought for a moment that in conquering the impenetrable city that had witheld the Dragon of the West himself, she had avenged the unnecessary death of her cousin, whose passing had led to his own father's disgrace. Lu Ten did not deserve the father that abandoned his duty because of grief, he deserved the one that would have burnt Ba Sing Se to ground; whether than General Iroh ever existed, she did not know, but she knew that she would not like to meet him- the heir of the Fire Nation that she might have both feared and aspired to be like.

When she entered, she decided to introduce herself, lest her uncle foolishly think it was Zuko coming to visit him; she guessed that he was doing just that, "Hello, Uncle."

"Oh, that was quick." Iroh mumbled with surprise, his eyes darting up to look at her.

"What was quick?" she asked him, the retired general shaking his head, returning to the solemn looking state he had been in prior; whatever he had thought of her arrival, it was not give gifts of tea and food or beg for his forgiveness, that was sure enough.

"I have come seeking your advice, Uncle." she openly admitted, his eyes rising to look at her suspiciously, "Yeah, I know- that's the reaction I'd expect." she acknowledged his uneasy and slightly confused face.

"You have never paid much interest to my words before, my niece. May I ask why that has changed?" he asked her, the Princess curling her lips as she sat down in front of her uncle.

"I'm pretty sure brother intends to betray father at the upcoming eclipse." she admitted, Iroh's eyes unchanging from their intrigued state, indicating to her that he was either very good at lying, like herself, or her brother truly hadn't informed him of his intended treachery; she decided to take a shot, just to see what he'd say, "I know you know, Uncle. Zuzu wouldn't dare not tell his beloved uncle of his plans, wouldn't he?"

His face didn't twitch, looking back up at her with interest, "You seek to know truths that are not yours to find, my niece." he told her, before narrowing his eyes at her, "Why are you here?"

"Because my brother... he has shown me his truths, even if you don't want to show yours. I don't want to hear them... by the way." she stressed, before she raised her hand, examining her nails, "I don't think I want to see Zuko in this prison with you."

"And where do you want to see him?" he asked her, the Princess's lips curling, knowing that he would want to hear the answer to that question.

"The same place I always have: on the throne." she crossed her arms, before raising a finger, "And before you try and call me out- I never said I agreed with him taking down our father."

"So what would you have your brother do?" he asked him, the Princess chuckling; she wanted him to wait, to become the best heir he could be, and then when the time was right, they could dispense of their father- he was only as useful to them as long as his approval had any meaning; once Zuko could kill their father in an Agni Kai, there was no need to seek his approval, they could simply take the throne for themselves.

"Wait. Until he is ready to rule." she stressed, the retired general shaking his head with a disappointed look.

"Zuko should not wait. Do you know what my brother will do to the Earth Kingdom?" he asked here, the PRincess scoffing.

"Should I care?" she quipped back, Iroh sighing, before he turned around.

"I never expected you to. But I think Zuko does." he explained, the Princess sighing.

"Why? Because of his girlfriend? Because of his time in that poor excuse of a country?" she asked him, hoping to get a straight answer.

"No. Because Zuko cares. No matter how much you want to make him into a hardened, cold Fire Lord, he won't ever be that." he eyed her with a serious face, before he sighed, "I just hope that you can accept him for who he is."

Her eyes widened, remembering what her brother had told her- that he loved her, despite her being who she was, a monster; her uncle had hit a heart-strung, whether intentionally or not. She didn't understand love, but she knew that she held it toward her brother; that was one way of describing her emotion, but she preferred to call it a deep sense of honour, not shaped by sharing a womb, but by the respect they held toward each other both as fighters and individuals. Despite all his flaws, she respected his stubbornness, even if he used it for causes she didn't care for; and despite all her flaws, he respected her willingness to do anything for her desires. She had wanted Zhao dead- Zhao died; she wanted Zuko to return to the Fire Nation- he returned. Now she wanted him to be Fire Lord- would it be wrong if he got there a little quicker than expected? He would be a good Fire Lord, who would care for the people and strike down his enemies; he would be better than their uncle or father could ever be, even better than herself. She had realised after understanding the truth, that her brother's care and love for the world, for his nation, that was what made him a better choice for the throne than herself; she was determined, but she didn't care enough about others, or the fate of their nation, to truly be suited for the role.

"Azula, are you alright?" he asked her, the Princess snapping out of her thoughts, before eyeing her uncle.

"For once, Uncle, I have to acknowledge, you have a point." she admitted, making him look at her with surprise, "Zuko cares, and I am unafraid to admit that I respect that. Because if he didn't care, then he wouldn't have tried to help me. Because he believes in me."

"He does." Iroh assured her, the Princess standing up and turning her heels.

"I will try and persuade my brother otherwise, if only to prevent the chaos that will come of his treachery." she told him, making him nod, almost poignantly.

"I understand. You are not wrong to act as you have. You are not a monster, my niece." he assured her, Azula's eyes widening before she stared him down.

"You have definitely been speaking to Zuzu, haven't you?" she asked him, forcing a chuckle out of the retired general.

"I guess I have."

* * *

Holding a torch in hand, Suki's eyes narrowed to try and make out the features ahead of her; although the map of the catacombs underneath the Caldera City was detailed, it didn't exactly help her when she couldn't see more than a few strides ahead of her. The dark walls and low hanging roof of the hallways of the catacombs made her feel uneasy; she wasn't claustrophobic, but she knew all too well that it would be dangerous for someone to get lost in the kind of place she had found herself. She had walked past a number of diverging paths, but she was being told by her map to continue heading straight ahead; supposedly the catacombs were a direct and discrete way to travel across the city, although the common people wouldn't usually try to use them as they were designed to be confusing and misleading for anyone who entered. She was just lucky that her boyfriend was the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, who had access to such documents like the one she held in her hands. The armour she was wearing was clunky and heavier than her traditional warrior garbs, although the shape of the outfit meant that she had more mobility, especially in her legs; whether that would make up for the weight in a fight, she had no idea, not intending to end up in one while she was wearing her disguise. Being slowed down wasn't a key worry in her mind, but being so used to fighting and preparing herself to do so, she just felt the worry of being unable to defend herself take centre stage.

She shook her head, continuing to pace forward as she looked down to the map; she had to take a left turn that would lead her under the palace, which had it's own entrances which were locked to prevent anyone from accessing them; Zuko had been kind enough to afford her a key to access said doors, which she held in her hand underneath the map she was looking at. She turned and before her very eyes stood the metal door she had been expecting, looking large and heavy, designed to block potential intruders- those who might intend to assassinate the Fire Lord himself. Suki pushed the key into the door, turning it to hear and feel a mechanism behind the door opening up, making her curl her lips, realising that she was now in the palace of the Fire Lord herself. Opening the door revealed a larger hallway that seemed to be far better quality than the ones she was walking through prior, quickly racing along through it. She came to a staircase soon enough, pacing up it, before she made sight of another heavy metal door. She put her key in that door, and as expected, it opened without a hitch, revealing to her what she could only assume to be the armoury of the palace, full of weapons and sets of armour; she chuckled, realising that she was exactly where Zuko had got her armour from, eyeing the similar sets that stood before her, turning around to lock the door behind her- she didn't want to seem suspicious, after all.

She approached the exit of the armoury itself, peering out into the hallway of the palace, noticing how dark and foreboding it seemed, with no windows and torches lighting the red halls with an orange hue. Suki quickly eyed up and down the hallway for a moment, before stepping out of the armoury, looking to the other map her boyfriend had given her, that being a map of the palace itself, which was smaller and less complex than the system of catacombs below. She took note of where Zuko's room was, before she began to pace down the halls, trying to act as calm and collected as possible; the Fire Nation's Royal Guards were supposedly extremely stoic and took their jobs seriously, which meant that she wouldn't be expected to talk, something that would allow her to avoid being incriminated. As she walked on down through the hallways, she passed by other guards, but none of them gave her notice, probably assuming that she had a task handed down from one of the royals; technically she did, even if she really wasn't amongst their ranks. As she looked up the hallway, she noticed more light coming from what must have been the outside; eyeing the map in her hand, she took note that it was a courtyard, before she looked up, continuing to walk along down the hallway. As the hallway turned, she found herself walking parallel to the courtyard; her eyes looked out, seeing a small ring of garden surrounding what looked like a training field; upon it, stood the one person she didn't exactly want to see- Princess Azula. Suki was silently thankful for her helmet and mask that disguised her appearance, knowing that the Princess would have immediately noticed her if she'd seen her face. Azula looked her way for a moment, but didn't seem to take interest in a Royal Guard looking her way; she immediately turned her head away from her eyes, her pace increasing drastically as she continued to walk toward her boyfriend's bedroom.

When she finally reached the bedroom of the Crown Prince, a large and ornate door stood before her, but to her luck, no guards were stationed outside of his room; she knocked on the door with it's large golden handle, before clearing her throat, "Prince Zuko, I bear news from the Fire Lord." she imitated the serious tone she'd expect of a guard; if she could fool him for just a moment, that would mean that her disguise was effective.

A few moments later the doors before her opened, the Prince peering out to look at her, wearing little more than his gold and red night-robes, his eyes suspiciously glancing her way, "Um- of course. Should I get dressed?" he asked her, making her snicker.

"No, you're fine just the way you are." she acknowledged with a smirk he couldn't see, his eyes widening as a smile appeared between his cheeks.

"Suki!" he almost shouted her name, making her raise a hand to hush him, "Oh... yeah. Uh- come in." he told her, standing out of the way to let her enter the room; once the door closed behind her, she drew off the masked helmet from her head, letting her hair freely sit down to her shoulders rather than be bunched up by the helmet that could only be compared to a bucket with slits for her eyes.

"Your maps and keys worked like a charm. I got here with no problems." she curled her lips, happy that she had arrived at her intended destination with no apparent issue.

"Well, that's good. I think we'll need to use them more than once in the days to come." he admitted, before pulling out a seat that was lodged by his desk, "Please, sit. I have some things... that we need to discuss." he explained with a serious tone, indicating to her that their visit would not be all play- some work would be involved as well.

Sitting down on the chair, she turned it around to face Zuko, who sat on the bed across from her, "Okay, so what's the issue now?" she asked him, the Prince sighing.

"Well, I intend to defeat my father- whether personally or not, and in the case I do not personally hand down the blow, I believe my sister or the Avatar will most likely do so." he explained himself, her eyes widening, unsure what he was getting at.

"But... what does this have to do with me?" she asked, the Prince sighing, before looking at her with a serious glare.

"I can trust the girls to free Uncle and make sure the Avatar's invasion can reach the palace unimpeded, but I think you ought to take a more... central role in all of this. You are the best non-bending fighter I know, and I want you to do one thing for me." he began to explain, before looking at her poignantly, "I need you to protect Azula for me."

"Sorry- you want me to protect Azula? We're not exactly on the best terms." she raised a brow skeptically at the Prince, who tried to give her a reassuring smile.

"I know, it's just that you- well, you're the only one I can trust to do it." he admitted bluntly, "The Dai Li might betray her if she goes against our father, and the Royal Guards, they're loyal to him- if something goes wrong, I need to make sure she is safe." he explained himself, the Kyoshi Warrior sighing before nodding; she didn't like Azula, but she knew what she meant to Zuko, and she would protect her because of that bond.

"I understand." she assured him, before raising a brow, "But what about you?" she wondered, the Prince chuckling.

"Well, I hope that Azula and I will be together to go take down our father." he explained to her, before looking at her with fearful eyes, "I mightn't be, however, because the invasion is going to be a big mess; the Avatar and his friends mightn't actually figure out where my father is until too late, so I want to try and make sure they get the message."

Her eyes widened, realising what he intended to do, "But Zuko, you shot Aang with lightning... how are they going to trust you?" she questioned, unsure if he was making a sound decision to try and direct Aang and his friends when the last time they had met they were clearly opponents.

"I don't know. But I have to try. We can't be enemies if I'm Fire Lord... that'll just create even more problems." he acknowledged the consequences of the situation, "Hopefully Uncle can persuade them."

"Yes, I'm sure he'll be able to do that- Iroh trusts what you did, doesn't he?" she asked him, the Prince nodding along.

"I think he does- he might not agree, but-" he began to explain himself, before they were interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Prince Zuko, you have been called upon by your father." she heard a guard's voice speak through the locked door; Zuko's eyes widened, stepping closer to it.

"Uh- of course, what does he require me for?" he asked the guard, whose words sent a shudder down her spine.

"A war meeting, your highness."

* * *

"Welcome, Prince Zuko. We waited for you."

Princess Azula curled her lips seeing her brother approach, his eyes momentarily darting down the generals that sat alongside the large strategic map that also formed a walkway; General Bujing's eyes darted away with fear, and she could swear she saw a smirk on her brother's face. When he ascended to the throne, that certain officer would not find himself in a very kind position, after what he had done all those years prior. Her brother strode upward, looking at their father with nearly emotionless eyes, turning to sit on the Fire Lord's right hand side, while she sat on his left; her brother's eyes had momentarily looked her way, almost as if to scan her emotions. She doubted Zuko could do so, but the fact he was trying to meant that he still believed that she was going to make some back-flip on her standing; she was a Princess of the Fire Nation, and she was loyal to her father, even if she didn't see eye to eye on everything with him, he still respected her. Being sidelined by her brother was the price she was willing to pay before his return, and she didn't take anything from it. Her brother's words however, kept ringing in her head, like he wouldn't ever shut up; she knew that he was genuine in his feelings, but she was just as certain that her father intended to keep him as their heir. Why he would want to give away all of that just to feel some kind of moral relief was beyond her.

"General Shinu, your report." Ozai indicated to the general who was sitting by the table.

"Thank you, sir." he deferred before rising to his feet, "Ba Sing Se is still under our control. However, earthbender rebellions have prevented us from achieving total victory in the Earth kingdom."

Her father raised a brow, "What is your recommendation?"

"Our army is spread too thin, but once the eclipse is over and the invasion defeated, we should transfer more domestic forces into the Earth Kingdom." he explained to the Fire Lord, who looked to her brother, surprisingly of all people, for an answer to a question.

"Hmmm. Prince Zuko, you've been among the Earth Kingdom commoners. Do you think that adding more troops will stop these rebellions?" he asked him, the Prince furrowing his brow for a moment; would her brother give his honest opinion, or would he uphold his image to their father still?

"The Earth Kingdom has held out against the Fire Nation for a century. They only resist us because they believe they have a chance of victory." he explained to Ozai, who curled his lips.

"Yes, that is a fair point." the Fire Lord acknowledged, before smirking deviously, "We need to destroy their hope."

Her brother's eyes widened, realising that he had not gotten his point across in the way that he might have liked; he didn't utter a word, and Azula took the opportunity to further her brother's point.

"That is quite the idea, father. We cannot win by conventional methods, so we need to use our greatest weapon." she explained her idea on how to beat the Earth Kingdom; her father obviously agreed, as he smiled with the same thought in mind.

"Yes, you're right Azula, Sozin's Comet will be the one way that we can finally destroy their hope." he declared, standing up and walking toward the strategic map, "Sozin's Comet is almost upon us, and on that day, it will endow us with the strength and power of a hundred suns. No bender will stand a chance against us.

"What are you suggesting, sir?" Shinu asked the Fire Lord for clarification, something that he was more than willing to provide.

"When the comet came last, my grandfather, Fire Lord Sozin, used it to wipe out the Air Nomads. Now I will use it's power to end the Earth Kingdom... permanently." he smirked, raising his arms over the map as if to show his authority, "From our airships, we will rain fire over their lands, a fire that will destroy everything, and out of the ashes a new world will be born, a world in which all the lands are Fire Nation and I am the supreme ruler of everything!"

Azula'a eyes turned to her brother as the generals applauded their Fire Lord, seeing his eyes filled with fear, which then turned to determination; he was going to kill their father, she was sure of it. He couldn't stand for the destruction of his precious earth peasants, so he'd make sure that could never eventuate; his eyes darted to her, mouthing a word without vocalising- 'decide'. She knew that was what she wanted him to do, but it wasn't as simple as any other decision she'd been faced with; does this choice lead to victory, if so, follow it- that was the principle that she followed by. She knew, however, that if she betrayed Zuko, and let him leave the Fire Nation an unredeemable traitor, she would be Crown Princess; that was a victory of one kind, but not the one she desired. Her brother would be gone, and then they would have to fight; she really had a choice less over victory and more over their relationship; did she want to face her brother and compete for the throne, like their father would want of them, or did she want to hold onto their bond, despite the consequences? Azula didn't even really know the answer, or better phrased, she was unwilling to face it. She didn't want to take the path of tea and treachery, but could her father blame her if it was forced upon her.


	48. Converging Paths

_"Very good, Princess Azula."_

_Curling her lips at the commendations from her tutors, Lo and Li, Azula stood with one finger stretched forward, having just generated a bolt of lightning, sending it into the sky above the Caldera City; with the skill of lightning under her belt, she was without a doubt one of the most powerful firebenders alive, probably the most relative to her age; she was only thirteen years old, yet she was more skilled than the masters that trained soldiers for the army, as well as her previous tutors, who were so immersed into the theory and practice of firebending that you could say it was all they lived for._

_"Not even a hair out of place." she smirked, turning back to her tutors, "Now, I believe I am in need a spar to test my now abilities." she declared, her tutors looking at each other with slight unease before turning back to her._

_"Your highness, there is but one problem..." Lo begun, before her sister took over._

_"You are undeniably one of the most powerful firebenders in history, but that means that it is very hard to come by anyone who could match up to your abilities."_

_"Ergo?" she gestured with an open palm, prodding the pair for an answer._

_"The only firebender who you could spar, and have it be a fair fight..." Li began before she was joined in concert by her sister._

_"Is your father, Fire Lord Ozai."_

_She was a bit unnerved by the words before her; she knew that she would eventually reach the level where her father would be her only rival in terms of firebending ability, but she didn't expect that time to come for many years, when she was fighting on the front-lines against the Earth Kingdom rather than sitting at home sparring instead of fighting the enemies of the Fire Nation. Fighting against her father was something she had mused before in the past, but hearing as an actual possibility made her feel uneasy, her gut clenching, as if to reach with fear; Azula wasn't meant to be afraid of anyone, but on that rare occasion she did, it was usually about things that were more of a practical threat to her than her father, such as assassins or unruly peasants._

_"Well, should I go ask him if he wants to spar against his daughter?" she asked her tutors, who silently looked at her for a moment before nodding._

_"Indeed. That would be the next stage of your training." they both told her together, making her curl her lips before turning around, taking a stance; she spun her hands around, feeling the chi flow, before directing the energy through her right fingertips, flowing up out into the air once more._

_"I am ready." she declared, before turning to face them, "I believe we are done for the day, but I will speak with my father about this matter at once." she assured them, before turning her heels, the sisters leaving the training grounds while she walked toward the other exit, heading to the change-rooms; she would need to look proper before her father, especially if she was making a request such as asking him to spar with her._

_Entering the change-rooms, she pulled off her training garbs, which consisted of a red tunic with an layered collar, similar to the ordinary outfit she would wear around the palace, except for the fact it had less layers, making it easier for her to move around in comparison to her royal robes, that were more for show rather than to be practical in a fight. Her mind began to wander as she slid into her robes, thinking about what an actual spar with her father would be like; seeing that she had barely seen her father train, let alone actively firebend, all she could distinctively remember was him branding her brother's face, which wasn't a good reflection of his actual fighting abilities. She assumed that after years of training, he would be a peak-condition firebender, despite reaching middle-age, and not actively participating in battles, unlike her older uncle, who she knew the battlefield reputation of; that was not a reflection of her uncle's current abilities however, but it gave her an idea of what to expect from her father, and it was not an idea that made her feel confident in the slightest. She was accurate and fast with her bending, but she guessed that her father would be even faster and more vicious with his own style; she guessed well enough that if the Dragon of the West himself was unwilling to challenge him to an Agni Kai, he must have had good reason to fear his skills._

_Making sure her hair was in place, Azula paced down the halls of the palace with haste, knowing that the day was fading, and she would want to make her request to her father before he was too tired to want to deal with her; she knew well of his temper and how to avoid it, and was sure that as long as he wasn't dealing with any of his generals or the likes, he would be palatable to her suggestions. The good thing about being the favoured child and being of the same mind as her father, she was able to figure out the right things to say, even if she didn't know his specific opinions on the fact; he was a simple man, in a way, not in the sense of his mind, but in his ambitions and goals. Fire Lord Ozai wanted a competent, powerful and ruthless heir to one day succeed him, and that would be her as long as her brother remained banished; he wanted to destroy the enemies of the Fire Nation, and if she could further that goal, there was no way he would turn her down. She hadn't tried to test her father's limits out of fear, but thinking that they were of comparable firebending skill made that fear dampen somewhat, even if she still dreaded the idea of having to face him in a fight. She approached the tall imposing golden doors of the throne room which opened up for her, Azula looking in and making a straight face._

_Her father sat on the throne before her, his head rising as he looked up to her, "Ah, daughter, I had just finished my meetings for the day. What is it that you want?" he asked her, the princess slowly approaching the throne before kneeling down before him._

_"Father, I have a request of you." she admitted, before her eyes looked up to him; he was not frustrated by her words, rather curious, probably unsure as to what she would want._

_"Does this have to do with your intentions for Ba Sing Se?" he preempted her, making her shake her head._

_"No, father. I simply wanted to ask if you would consider me a worthy sparring partner." she requested, his eyes widening with surprise, his hands rising to his chin._

_"Well, I am more than willing to go against a prodigious bender such as yourself. I do warn you, however, my bending is like no other you have seen." he told her with a serious glare, Azula nodding, having heard the stories well enough._

_"I know that. Lo and Li recommended that you were the only bender who was on my level that I could spar- I would not try and inconvenience you otherwise." she assured him, not wanting to be demanding of her father; he was a serious man with a busy schedule, one which that would not be helped by her desires._

_"No, it is no issue, Princess Azula." he referred to her by name, "Although I do spar with my personal guards some times, they are not much compared to you; it would be a... educational experience for us both, I believe." he curled his lips, making her gulp with fear._

_The last time her father had used that kind of phrase to describe bending was when he burnt Zuko's face, framing it at as lesson; she doubted her father could beat her badly enough to warrant a burn like her brother's, but the fears in the back of her mind rang true well enough._

_"Indeed." she faked a smile, "When would you like to begin?" he asked her, the Fire Lord rising up from his thoughtful position to one of confidence._

_"Tomorrow would suffice. You would best rest up before it; I expect you at the peak of your abilities, my daughter." he requested, making her nod; she didn't want to face her father, but she curled her lips into a smirk- if she was going to be his successor, when she would need to prove herself in a fight, would she not?"_

_"I will rest, and then I will show my worth."_

* * *

Standing by the edge of a courtyard, Prince Zuko watched as the numerous servants and guards of the Royal Palace began to funnel out of the palace, taking to the tunnels to hide from the invasion which was to arrive in a few hours time, to coincide with the solar eclipse that would be taking place; he was feeling uneasy after the war meeting the day prior, having heard of his father's intentions of what he planned to do with Sozin's Comet. He knew that his father needed to be defeated and overthrown, but that would take the power of the Avatar to do so. Aang would likely be arriving sooner rather than later, probably intending to fight his father; he hoped that the young Avatar did, so he could finally put an end to Fire Lord Ozai's tyranny. His nation needed to be fixed, and he knew that without the Avatar, it was unlikely the rest of the world would ever trust the Fire Nation; he, for one, did not seek to have the war end with the Earth Kingdom invading the homeland, and then forcing them to resist. He didn't want to find any more enemies- Zuko needed more friends, more than anything else. He thought to what he had asked of Suki, and just hoped the Kyoshi Warrior was ready to deal with whatever Azula did; his uncle would soon be out of prison, and with all of his allies gathered, they would finally stand a chance to end his father's reign. His sister's intentions were unknown, and he hadn't had a chance to speak to her after the war meeting, as she immediately went to the royal spa, before going off to bed; he felt a sense of dread with the unknown, realising that must have been how she felt when they found each other in Ba Sing Se. Zuko felt conflicted about having to betray the Avatar and his friends, but he only did so to ensure that he could return to the Fire Nation with his sister; his plans to help Suki and the other Kyoshi Warriors never would have happened otherwise, and thus he'd likely still be in Ba Sing Se, fearing for his safety after his sister overthrew the Earth King.

"Your highness, do you need to be escorted to your personal bunker?" a guard interrupted his chain of thought, the Prince shaking his head, returning to the matter at hand.

"N-no, I know where I have to go." he assured the guard, "I'll be heading down very soon." he told the seemingly worried guard; it was their duty to protect the Royal Family after all, and if he didn't go down the bunkers, his safety would be jeopardised, in their eyes.

"Of course, Prince Zuko." he bowed before continuing to pace along down the hallway.

The Prince's eyes darted about, knowing that he was waiting for his sister, who probably had some orders given to her by their father; she had not explicitly mentioned anything the last time they talked, but she spoke of the day of the eclipse like there was a lot of responsibility on her shoulders, even more than usual, despite the fact that he was their father's heir once more. As he expected her to, Azula finally appeared, wearing her royal armour, looking ready for a fight; he was wearing a similar outfit, wanting to look proper and serious while all of their father's attendants rushed about. Her eyes met his own, and she looked at him with slight unease; what she was to speak to him about would determine the fate of the Fire Nation, standing in a busy hall while those around them believed an enemy invasion force would do just that.

"Brother, are you ready to join me in the bunkers." she asked him, the Prince raising a brow, trying to feign surprise; even if he wasn't trying to fool his sister, the guards and servants still needed to believe he was his father's loyal son.

"Well, that is where everyone else is going." he conceded, before raising his head, "Do you want to walk on down together?" he asked her, the Princess looking at him with slight aversion, before nodding; he smiled at her, if only for a moment, to express his relief that she wasn't still feeling angsty about his intentions- they had been nothing but civil toward each other since Ember Island, and he didn't expect that to change in an instance.

His eyes darted behind his sister for a moment, scanning the hallway; as expected, he saw a guard rather inconspicuously standing by a doorway, looking their way- he could immediately tell it was Suki, as he had requested she track Azula and ensure her safety the day prior. Her face was covered with a mask, but he could tell from her posture that it was her, just how she leaned up against the door was enough to prove it in his eyes; she made a curt wave of the hand, before his eyes moved back to his sister, gesturing they begin to walk.

"Let's go, Zula." he acknowledged, the Princess not saying a word, simply beginning to stride forward.

As they walked on down the hallway, his eyes continued to flip back to looking at her face, noticing the tense expression; Azula was rather skilled at acting stoic, akin to Mai, who was so good at flat-out ignoring her emotions that she almost seemed robotic at times, if not slightly suave, in a somewhat mysterious way. His sister however, was not acting as stoic or serious as usual, but rather uneasy and looking paranoid; she wasn't one to usually regret her decisions, but he could tell from the way she strode forth that she had already made up her mind.

"So... what are you going to do today?" he asked her, the Princess chuckling.

"Father told me not to tell you, but he has requested I fill in his spot in his personal bunker, and distract the Avatar and his cronies if they even show up." she explained, before she raised a brow, "But, of course, I don't follow anyone's orders."

"What will you do then? Are you going to seek out to fight the Avatar again?" he asked her, reminding her of what she had done in Ba Sing Se.

"I don't want to get crushed by that earthbending midget," she raised a finger, "for one." she stressed, indicating there was another reason she had, "But more than that, I don't want to have to fight them. There's no point."

His eyes widened, realising that his sister was saying something that sounded an awful lot like her joining him in betraying their father, "So, what does have a point?" he asked her, Azula placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Ensuring that father is succeeded by a competent Fire Lord." she stressed, "You aren't going to walk down to fight him..." she told him, almost ordering him, "I will."

"A-Azula, I need to tell you something. Something important." he placed a hand on her shoulder, "I know you went to see Uncle." he told her, the Princess flinching back, stopping her strides to look at him suspiciously.

"You were following me?" she asked him, Zuko shaking his head.

"No, I just wanted to go ask for some advice about... the Avatar." he admitted, before looking up at her, "But I see you went to see him anyway, so I never ended up going- I didn't want to stop you." he assured her, the Princess continuing to walk along, keeping her distance.

"So what did you need to tell me?" she asked him, the Prince narrowing his eyes at her with a serious glare.

"Lightning can be redirected." he simply told her, Azula's eyes widening with surprise.

"That sounds like a joke... but seeing that you learnt from our Uncle, I'm going to believe you." she acknowledged, "How?"

"By channelling a bolt through your chi paths, down to your gut and out your other hand; if it stays in your body, it'll fry you, just like it's supposed to." he warned her, the Princess looking at him with suspicion.

"And how exactly do you know this will work?" she asked him, Zuko shrugging his shoulders, actually never having seen the move in action.

"I have no idea if it actually works, I'm just going off Uncle's word. I thought he might have told you, but I'm guessing he was waiting for me to trust you with the technique." he explained his previous blunder that had made her on edge; she glanced at him with unease for a few moments, silence passing between them as they headed for the entrance of the tunnels.

"You haven't exactly taught me a technique... but I thank you for the advice. It is Father, after all." she acknowledged his advice, before placing a hand on his chest, "Now seeing that we're going full traitor, I think you should go get that fuddy-duddy uncle of ours. I'm sure he could help if things go south with Dad."

"I- I should go get Uncle?" he asked her in clarification, the PRincess raising a brow at him with confusion.

"Well that's what you were planning to do, weren't you?" she asked him, the Prince shaking his head.

"Uncle can get himself out of prison. He's one of the most powerful firebenders alive." he raised a finger, "If there's someone I would never want to actually fight, it's uncle. You hear from Zhao how he broke out of his ship?" he asked his sister, whose eyes narrowed.

"A few bits and pieces. It didn't sound very pretty." she conceded, making him smirk, "Uncle can handle himself, but I have something else I need to do, something that is just as important as dealing with Father." he explained himself before coming to a stop, "I need to speak with the Avatar. It's not good becoming Fire Lord when the Avatar still wants to 'beat the Fire Lord'."

"That is exactly what I was thinking." she acknowledged, before grasping him on the shoulder, "Good luck, Zuzu."

"You too... I'll tell Sokka you said hi." he curled his lips, making her become slightly flustered, trying her hardest not to berate her brother for his words.

"I did not." she grit her teeth, the Prince shrugging his shoulders, before a smug grin grew on his face.

"Hey, I'm just helping my little sister out." he assured her, making her eyes glare him down with a serious amount of anger; he patted her shoulder, knowing that his prodding had a productive outcome, "See? Now you're the right amount of angry to deal with Dad." he assured her, before turning his heels.

"Th-thanks, you dick." she growled, before turning around herself, her stomps audible as Zuko began to walk in the opposite direction; as he guessed, Suki was walking toward him, acting rather casusally, and he reached for his belt, realising he ought to give her something.

He offered out his right hand, with a small object covered in cloth, the Kyoshi Warrior dutifully accepting it, before he continued to walk on forward, knowing he wouldn't see his sister or Suki until after the eclipse; his eyes peered back, seeing his girlfriend momentarily look back his way, obviously realising that she had just been handed his dagger- again. She probably thought it was both a good tiding and an omen, as the last time she had been given it, Azula hunted her down and captured her. He looked at her for a few moments before turning his eyes forward, knowing that he shouldn't keep his mind focused on her, despite how much she meant to him; the fate of the Fire Nation, no, the fate of the world was at stake when the Avatar led an invasion of the Fire Nation.

* * *

Keeping her eyes on Azula, Suki continued to follow the rest of the crowd in suite, moving toward the catacombs, where the population of Caldera City would be taking refuge while the invasion occurred; he had heard from Zuko of an underground tunnel system, which was where he was meant to be cowering along with his father, but he had decided that he would remain in the palace to await the inevitable arrival of Aang, who would be looking to defeat Fire Lord Ozai when he didn't have access to his bending. A lot was at stake, and from the dagger Zuko had given her, it sounded more like an assurance; if Azula was intending to oppose him, then he would have high-tailed out of the palace with her in tow, but that didn't seem to be the case. She had holstered the weapon by her waist, continuing to follow after his sister, who turned how a corridor where a number of other palace guards were heading- the Fire Lord's personal bunker; she didn't know much about the schematics of the place, but Suki did know it was extremely secure and her guard outfit would be her only chance of getting in while the area was still open for her to access.

She followed after the Princess at a reasonable pace, making sure not to get too close behind her as not to arose suspicion, taking the stairs, where she joined the formation of guards that were following after her, probably being sent to secure the bunker; even if the Avatar couldn't get into it, that didn't mean that they wouldn't take the precaution of guarding the entrances. The staircase they took was relatively long and winding, but she kept pace behind Azula, until they reached a cave system, where a large metal door stood open, the guards filing in. She followed after them, keeping her eyes on the Fire Nation Princess, who continued to walk on down through the now cave like structure; the guards began to disperse, taking stations about the entrance to the bunker, where they took control of the mechanical entrance which had to be heaved close by a large wheel-like mechanism. Continuing to follow behind the Princess, she walked by a number of what she assumed to be high ranking Fire Nation officials who would probably be heading for their own sections of the bunker; she was sure that the Fire Lord would have his own room to wait out the eclipse in, and that was most likely where Azula was going.

She was pretty sure that Zuko's sister had no idea that she was following after her, but when she did, she might react, and as such, Suki kept her hand ready on her belt, which must have looked unusual to anyone watching her; the guards in the palace were all highly-trained firebenders, not non-benders like herself who would have to rely to weapons to fight. She had her trusty fans at hand, as well as Zuko's dagger if she needed to made any moves that involved more than knocking out her opponents; she didn't expect to fight, but then again, if Azula was going after the Fire Lord, as Zuko said she might, then it was a far less likely that she'd be able to avoid one- whether with the guards, or spirits save her, with the Fire Lord himself. She didn't ever expect to have to face Ozai, but if she did, she had some stern words to send his way about his horrible record as a parent; she was just relieved that her boyfriend had chosen the path he had, making her sick to think about a version of himself that might have accepted his father's plans to destroy the Earth Kingdom- she trembled with utter terror upon hearing about it. The Princess disappeared behind a corner ahead of her, and the Kyoshi Warrior increased her pace to make sure that she didn't lose track of her; glancing forward, she realised there was no parting in the path, but Azula had disappeared nonetheless.

The warrior's eyes widened realising her mistake, as she felt the scorching heat of her blue fire against her neck, "What do we have here?" she asked with a curious tone, before she reached to the warrior's belt, pulling out the dagger; Suki's face was covered but as her eyes turned to face the Princess, she could tell from the smug look on her face that she knew exactly who she was, "Future sister-in-law, is that you?" she asked, the Kyoshi Warrior clenching her teeth as she tried to edge away from the heat of her flame dagger.

"Uh... I'm not here to kill you, if that's what you thought." she assured her, the Princess throwing her with a push of her open palm up against the rock wall.

"So Zuzu sent you after me instead of being a dutiful brother?" she asked, forcing a nod out of Suki, making the usually collected and serious looking Princess sigh with frustration, before she smirked, "Oh, but that means he trusts you even more, doesn't it?" she refused to respond to her assumption, which was unnervingly accurate, before Azula gestured to her with a hand, "Well then, spit it out. You've got a job to do, don't you?"

"I'm here to make sure you're safe." she admitted, making the Princess snicker, looking at her with disbelief.

"Seriously, me? Safe?" she asked her rhetorically, "I'm the most prodigious firebender of a generation. No one can touch me." she declared, making her raise a finger.

"One, my friend Amari nearly cut out your voice-box. Two, we're about to face the one person who could probably 'touch you'." she told her a matter of factly, making the Princess curl her lips.

"Feisty, aren't you?" she mocked her, before crossing her arms, "You know, after Mai, I didn't think Zuko would choose a girl like you. You're a little too... rugged." she suggested, making her cross her arms.

"I'm still a girl!" she declared with a tone of indignation, "Isn't your whole thing breaking gender norms anyway?" she asked her, as if to throw her own insult back at her.

"We here in the Fire Nation are far fairer when it comes to treating the abilities and roles of men and women in society than you backwards Earth peasants." she declared, "I'm not rugged, because I'm the Princess of the Fire Nation. If I wasn't a master firebender, then I wouldn't be here."

"Hey, at least I'm not from the Water Tribes. I remember when I first met Sokka, all I could think of was how much of a sexist ass he was." she growled, making the Princess snicker.

"Oh, he was a sexist ass? I see you and the Kyoshi Warriors enlightened him to the grace of the fairer sex." she suggested, before the Kyoshi Warrior snickered, remembering that one thing Zuko had told her- 'if you want to piss off Azula, mention Sokka in any way'.

She walked on forward, "Now, let's go see your father. You can thank me for getting you a boyfriend later." she told her, hearing a cry of frustration from Azula.

"I swear to the spirits I'm going to beat Zuko for spreading that rumour." she declared, the Kyoshi Warrior raising a finger.

"I don't recommend you make threats like that when I'm trying to help you." she chided her, Azula raising a brow.

"What is a non-bender disguised as Palace Guard going to do that in any way might help me?" she rebuked her words, making her roll her eyes, even if she couldn't see them.

"You do realise that pretty soon, you're going to be stuck without bending for a few good minutes. Who's going to save your arse then?"

"I, myself." she grit her teeth, "My training in firebending carries over to hand-to-hand combat quite well."

"Do you want to test that against your father?" she asked her, the Princes cringing before shaking her head.

"N-no, he's far stronger than me physically." she explained before narrowing her glance at the Kyoshi Warrior, "I see your point."

"Trust me, I could incapacitate a non-bender Fire Lord Ozai any day of the week." she declared confidently, the Princess raising a brow at her suspiciously.

"You don't really want to fight him, I assure you." she warned, the Kyoshi Warrior shrugging.

"I don't. I just like pissing you off."

* * *

Sitting in his cell, patiently awaiting the eclipse, the former general Iroh remained calm and collected, meditating as he awaited his freedom; he and his nephew would be reunited, and he would finally be able to rejoice in Zuko becoming the prince he was always meant to be- technically, the Fire Lord he was meant to be. He had understood that the retired general would not take the throne, even if it was his birthright, because he had given up his chance and will to do so long ago; he had believed for a time that perhaps his nephew might have abandoned his intention to become Fire Lord once again, but he knew that when he had decided to join his sister, he had proved that he held those intentions close to heart. When he trained, he thought of the sun, the world outside that he had grown to miss; his tea shop that he had been forced to leave behind in Ba Sing Se, the life he had made for himself that was taken away. He would have his nephew, and his tea shop back, in time, and perhaps his niece would join them too. She was never going to be like Zuko, but she had a chance at redemption, and from their insightful conversation, he had come to understand her motivations a little better. Now, Iroh would even say she was simply misguided, if not righteous and honourable in both her intent to help her brother and serve her nation; her selfless desire to remove herself from the equation and consider her brother the more suitable Fire Lord showed him that she was both intelligent and understanding of her brother's nature, perhaps better of both sides than he was. He was aroused from his meditation by the gruff voice of Warden Poon, making the retired general sigh, realising he'd have to listen to another tirade of insults; to think that it was a man's job to make a bunch of prisoners feel bad was just stupendous in his eyes.

"Are you deaf, old man?" he asked him, "I asked you if you were getting tired of your cell."

Iroh feigned senility, his eyes looking up to him, acting as if he were surprised, before turning around, not wanting to interact with him any more than he had to; Poon, however, seemed to have another idea, placing his hands on the edge of the cell.

"To think that I'm looking at the man who would have been Fire Lord. It's sad, really." he mocked him, the retired general breathing in and out, trying to keep himself calm; he wouldn't let the Warden's words get to him, but he was awfully hard to ignore when he was banging on the bars of his cell.

Iroh heard a metallic banging noise outside of the hall his cell was in, the sound reverberating through the room; he raised a brow, thinking that for a moment, someone had gotten into a fight, something that would be hard to achieve in a prison where everyone was kept in their cells at all times.

"What was that? Which one of those morons dropped the food trays again?!" the Warden shouted out accusingly, even if none of the prison staff could hear him, turning away from Iroh as he approached the door that led out of the room; as he was about to reach for the door, it swung open, and moment later, Poon was kicked square in the chest, and thrown to the ground.

"Arrgh!" he screamed out, as he fell to the ground; because of the lightning, he could only see a silhouette as a figure placed their foot on his chest, before they turned to their face toward Iroh; it was Amari- his eyes widened as he realised that what he was witnessing was his own prison break.

"Afternoon, Iroh." she curled her lips, "Girls! He was where Zuko said he'd be!" she called out, the other Kyoshi Warriors filing into the room, while Amari leaned over to grab the Warden's keys.

As he got a better look at the group, he realised that the Kyoshi Warriors were indeed wearing their outfits once more, which he knew from his nephew's explanation, had been stolen by Azula; they looked more than ready for a fight, and with the eclipse about to occur, they had perfect timing- even if he wasn't of much use during the eclipse itself, they would need to assist Zuko in one way or another. A few moments later, he heard the sound of lock being opened and the barred door swinging open with a scraping metal sound; he smiled at his rescuers, before stepping out of the cell.

"How does it feel to be free?" Amari asked him, the retired general curling his lips.

"Not as good as it would be to have a cup of ginseng tea, but it's a close second." he admitted, before stretching his arms out, knowing that he had worked hard to improve his strength and get back into shape; he needed to be ready to fight, and Iroh was more than willing to do that with the fate of the world on the line.

As he stood up, the Kyoshi Warriors looked on with awe and surprise, Nakata looking at him with surprise, "Since when were you buff?" she asked the retired general, who chuckled at her words.

"Since I got thrown in prison." he admitted, "There's not much to do here."

"Come on, let's get out of here before those guards wake up." Esumi prodded the group, who nodded before beginning to quickly move out of the room, to which he followed it tow.

The six of them made their way down through the halls, the retired general taking note of the numerous incapacitated guards; how many they had beat up on their path to him, he had no idea, but the fact they had done so proved they were very serious about helping him. They walked down the long winding staircase that funnelled down to the ground floor of the prison, where he saw the foyer, littered with unconscious guards.

"I must say, I am impressed with your victory." he acknowledged, Amari smirking at him.

"We've been training to kick some Fire Nation butt for a while." she declared, before they approached the exit, "Now, we're got to get to the palace."

"Do you know where Zuko and Suki are?" he asked them, Nakata raising a brow in thought.

"Suki gave us our orders this morning, and then directed us to come here, and take you back to the palace, where Zuko will be waiting for us." she explained, the retired general nodding.

"Oh, good. Has the invasion begun?" he asked, the warriors looking up to the rim of the caldera.

"My hearing isn't that good, but I'd say... yes." Sawa raised a finger, "The eclipse is only twenty minutes away; we've got to get to the palace quickly."

* * *

Glancing around the empty and desolate entrance to the Fire Nation Royal Palace, Aang felt uneasy; he had come all that way to face the Fire Lord, but he had at the very least expected some resistance; for some reason, the streets were all empty in the Caldera City, and there was no guards stationed by the palace- it was a ghost town, a very large one at that. Racing up to the door, he readied his staff, blasting the door open with a gust of wind; he took a fighting stance, ready to face whoever awaited him inside the palace walls.

"The Avatar is back!" he shouted out, before realising no one was in the hall before him; his relaxed his shoulder, his staff dropping down as he looked around, "Hello? Anyone home?"

If there was no one in the palace, then he had no idea where the Fire Lord would be; he decided that he would best check, racing down the halls, sped up by his airbending. He glanced around the halls, taking note of a complete absence of people, but from the look of it, there had been people there very recently; the Caldera City might have been evacuated as soon as they knew the invasion had arrived, he thought to himself. Where the Fire Lord would be, was he didn't know, but he he had to be sure. He raced up toward a large doorway, which he guessed well enough was the throne room. Blasting the doors open, he set his eyes upon the throne, which was lit up with orange flames, and behind them sat a silhouette.

"Fire Lord Ozai!" he shouted out, pointing his staff at him, "I've come for you!"

The silhouette of the Fire Lord stood up, and he readied himself, as he came to walk through the wall of flames that sat around the throne; Aang's eyes widened as he made sight of his face, realising it wasn't the Fire Lord at all- it was Zuko, standing wearing armour and an outfit that actually made him look like a Prince, eyeing him with a serious face.

"Good, you're here." the Prince acknowledged, his presence, "I've been waiting for you."

He cringed back in fear, remembering the last time he had seen Zuko, before readying his weapon with a grimace, sending an air blast his way and throwing the Prince back onto the throne, the Avatar hearing a yelp of pain.

"Ow... what was that for?" he asked him, pulling himself back up from the throne, "I'm not here to fight you, Aang." he assured him, after which he stepped slightly closer, holding his staff toward the Prince.

"You tried to kill me with lightning, don't you remember?" he asked him, Zuko shaking his head, disagreeing with him; whether he had really bad memory or that he really wasn't trying to kill him.

"I didn't try to kill you. I made sure Katara and you escaped, so that my sister wasn't the one to try and shoot you. What do you think would have happened then?" he asked of the Avatar, whose eyes narrowed.

"I- I might have died... are you trying to say you've been trying to help me?" he asked him, suspicious of the Prince, who even if he had been given a resounding image of by Iroh, still feared that moment he had been shot down by lightning out of nowhere.

"Yes." he smiled at him, raising his hands up defensively, "I'm here to help you take down my father... if Azula doesn't do it first."

Aang raised a brow in confusion, "Sorry... Azula is going to take down your father?" he asked him, unsure how tahat could even happen; from what he had seen, Zuko's sister was wholly loyal to the Fire Nation and their cause of conquering the world- her turning against Ozai made no sense.

"Yeah, I know it's hard to believe, but trust me when I say she's not all bad. She's just been trying to help me, and decided in turn to help her." before he stepped down from the throne to approach him, "Good and evil aren't things I deal with- people are." he explained himself, the Avatar raising a brow with surprise.

"Huh, you kinda sound like Iroh when you say it like that." he admitted, making Zuko smile back at him.

"That's the best thing you could say to me, honestly." he patted his shoulder before indicating to the ground below their feet, "You're looking for the Fire Lord. He's not here, obviously. He's in a bunker underneath the caldera, right below our feet." he explained, Aang's eyes brightening, realising he still had a chance to take down the Fire Lord during the eclipse.

"I can earthbend to get myself there, luckily." he exclaimed in relief, the Prince shaking his head.

"You'll need a little bit more than earthbending to break in there; the entire bunker area is surrounded by metal and lava." he warned, Aang's eyes narrowing; he couldn't get past either of those, even though he was the Avatar, but he had a pretty good idea who could.

"You've met Toph, right?" he asked the Prince, who nodded with a slight grimace, indicating that their encounter mightn't have been enjoyed.

"Uh- yes." he mumbled, before nodding, "She'll be able to help you get down there, but I can show you the way." he assured the Avatar, who smiled back; he didn't expect the Fire Lord to be out of the palace when eh arrived, but he was more that happy that he had received unexpected help from someone he might have thought was his enemy.

Suddenly he heard a familiar voice as they turned to exit the throne room, "Nephew!" he heard Iroh's voice; it seems that he must have gotten out of captivity just in time- he was standing by the door of the throne room with the Kyoshi Warriors, who he had no idea how they had gotten there.

"Iroh!" Aang beamed, realising that they had someone else to help them against the Fire Lord, "Everyone's here... and is that the real Kyoshi Warriors?"

One of the warriors raised a hand, "Yeah, we are!" she exclaimed with a grin.

"We all need to get down to my father. You said Toph could help." Zuko turned to him, the Avatar nodding in confirmation, opening his glider.

"I'll go get her and then we can do it. Then I'll face the Fire Lord."


	49. The Eclipse

_"Prince Zuko... you look troubled, and I mean more than usual."_

_The Prince sighed, drooping his head down as he tried to meditate, his uncle sitting across from him; he had decided to do so because of a nightmare he had experienced that previous night. A horrific twisting of his memories into something that felt real; the reality of it was what sickened Zuko, imagining his Agni Kai going down a path that it clearly didn't. He didn't know how to explain what he had experienced in his nightmare to Iroh, knowing full well that it might raise more unwanted questions from his usually concerned uncle._

_"I... I had a nightmare." he tried to put it simply, but he saw his uncle's question coming from a mile away._

_"Was it about your scar?" he asked the Prince, who looked up at him, unsure how to put it in a way that didn't make him sound treacherous or spiteful toward his father; he didn't hate Fire Lord Ozai, and he had no intention to do so- his punishment was justified in the end, even if Zuko's own moral code couldn't make sense of the justification._

_"In a way, yes." he admitted, before taking a deep breath, before voicing his judgement, "I want to be the best Prince I can be, Uncle, but I can't change what happened that day."_

_"What you did, how you reacted, it wasn't wrong." he assured him, the Prince shaking his head._

_"No. Father was right." he stressed with a serious glare, "I was a coward. I can't ever act like that again."_

_Iroh leaned in closer, his wide eyes showing his concern, "What happened in your dream, nephew? It sounds like you had... some kind of experience"_

_Zuko sighed, looking down into his hands, "I saw... what I did... it was what I should have done." he admitted, before looking up at his uncle, thinking back to the lightning bolt striking him down, "But I died."_

_The retired general, who had been rather calm and collected until that point, flinched back, his eyes widening ith shock, "Y-you had a dream where your father killed you?"_

_"Yes- a-and... it made me realise something... was I always going to get this scar? Was banishment my best choice, when the alternative... was that?" he asked his uncle, so unsure of his words himself, that Iroh could only grasp him by the shoulder._

_"That wasn't real, Zuko. It was just a figment of your... troubling imagination." he assured him with an uneasy voice, Zuko covering his face with his palm._

_"I think I need to have a shower... or something." he sighed, "I don't know how I'm going to get this out of my head."_

_"A calm and relaxing shower sounds like it would help clear your head." his uncle agreed with him, before Zuko stood up, wiping his face, making sure he didn't have anything embarrassing like tears on it; he didn't think he would have cried, but as he hadn't seen his face in a mirror as of that point, he was to afraid to ask._

_Looking back down at Iroh, he gave him a reassuring look, "I- I'll be fine. You can go have your morning tea or whatever it is that you want to do." he suggested, before he opened the door, walking on out into the hallway; the metal walls were cold to touch, and the sun had barely risen higher than the horizon at that moment._

_He thought back to what his uncle might think of their interaction; he didn't want to raise concern with his uncle. He knew that he was probably more inclined to say that Zuko was not at fault for what happened; even if part of the Prince believed the same thing, he couldn't ever openly admit that. He had had his face burned by his father, who mercilessly scarred him even after he fell to his knees and begged for forgiveness; he called himself an idiot for thinking his father would accept such weakness, but his nightmare reminded him of a truth he didn't want to address. His father didn't want him to be Crown Prince, he didn't want him in the palace, and more than that, he didn't want him as a son; it made him hate himself, knowing that being a good son was all he ever wanted to be for his mother and father. Because his mother had disappeared many years earlier, he felt that he had to be the son his father wanted, but even then he failed, because he wasn't good enough. For a moment he felt a sense of jealousy toward Azula, and some spite, knowing that without her, his father wouldn't have had as much reason to despise him. He shook his head, telling himself that his sister did not lay at fault, even if she blamed herself for what happened; she did not control him, and neither was she responsible for their father's attitude toward him._

_He opened the door into the shower, checking to make sure none of the crew were taking their showers, but remembered that he had woken up at dawn, before any of the crew would get up if they were right of mind; stepping into the room, he immediately dispensed of his night-robes, standing with only his baggy pants and thin tunic. He took the tunic off easily, sliding it off at hanging it on the rack to the side with his robe. He slid off his boots, which he instinctively put on when he got up, not wanting to walk around the cold metal floor of the ship to his uncle's room without them. He pulled down his pants, hanging them up with his tunic and robes, before reaching in to turn the tap for the shower; the water smelt a little unusual, but he knew that was just a side effect of using distilled seawater. He put his hand under the water, turning up the hot water until it was just lukewarm; being a firebender, he didn't necessarily need the water to be that hot out of the shower head, as his bending allowed him to heat the water as it came into contact with his skin. Stepping into the shower, he pulled out his phoenix-tail, letting his hair flow down his back as became heavy from all of the water that flowed down through it; looking up toward the shower head, he let the water go right over his face, breathing in and out slowly as he was when he tried to meditate, letting his bending warm the water as it ran down his skin. The feeling of relaxation he felt proved his uncle right, in the end; all he needed was to calm down, before he could refocus his mind on things that were of far higher priority to him than wallowing in self-hate, such as hunting down the Avatar._

_Wiping the water from his face, cringing slightly as he touched his scar, "I can't let this define me." he declared to himself, as if saying it would make his words the truth; that was lie, and he didn't want to admit it- that he was going to be stuck with his banishment, his scar and the dishonour it brought him._

_"Never again. I'm never going to let it happen again."_

* * *

"How do you know we can trust him, Aang?"

Zuko felt a little uneasy with so many eyes on him, placing a hand over his face as he stood before the Avatar's friends; Katara's eyes were staring him down like she wanted to freeze him to death, which he could understand, given what happened the last time they met. Sokka and Toph were rather neutral about him, however, and were probably more interested in what he had to offer in terms of helping their invasion.

"Well, he's with Iroh, and the real Kyoshi Warriors." the Avatar beamed, showing off the people he had just mentioned, who stood behind the Prince somewhat awkwardly while he negotiated what they were going to do; seeming rather surprised by the appearance of the group, Sokka raised a brow at him with interest.

"Oh yeah, Azula must've defeated them." he acknowledged, before turning to face the Prince, "Where's Suki?" he asked him, noticing that she wasn't present among the group; the warriors looked amongst themselves for a moment, before Amari stepped forward with a smirk of confidence, obviously thinking of something witty to say.

"Possibly about to go beat the Fire Lord before you get a chance to." she joked, although technically that was a possibility during the eclipse, seeing that his father would no longer have access to his bending and she was one of the best non-bending fighters he knew; the Avatar and his friends looked rather uneasy at her sense of humour, the Prince standing in front of her to make sure they stayed on topic.

"She's with my sister." he clarified the Kyoshi Warrior's response, knowing that was a more helpful answer.

Sokka's face was a mix of shock and a blush before he clenched his fists, his face reddening, "Your sister? She's joining us too?" he asked the Prince, who looked uneasy from his shocked reaction, although Katara was just as bad, although she didn't voice her concerns.

"Don't phrase it to her like that, or she'll beat you to a pulp." he warned, before turning to the person he actually wanted to speak to, "Now, can- uh- Toph, you're the one who can sense with your feet, right?" he asked the earthbending girl who shoved Sokka and Katara out of the way to approach him.

"Sure am, Sparky." she declared with a grin; his eyes expressed the pain he knew he should have seen coming- she did say she would have a nickname for him the next time they met.

"Yep, I can sense this bunker thingy you were talking about Twinkletoes." she admitted, making Aang give her a rather distasteful look; the Prince and his uncle looked at each other, trying not to laugh at the nickname.

"Supposedly you can bend metal too." he acknowledged, the stout curl crossing her arms as she grinned.

"I certainly can. The first metalbender and the greatest earthbender in the world." she declared, making Iroh muse, raising a hand to his dishevelled.

"Huh, there's the best earthbender and the 'best' firebender. Maybe we should let her handle your father instead?" his uncle joked, making Zuko roll his eyes, knowing all too well than despite her skills, Toph wouldn't fare very well against a very fast and vicious firebender who would fry her with lightning before she could make a move.

"That's a challenge I'd like to face." she piped up, both Aang and Sokka placing their hands on her shoulders to both figuratively and literally restrain her.

"Now, that's not a good idea, even if you are the best." the Water Tribe teen told her, the Avatar grimacing with agreement.

"As cool as that fight might sound, this is my job... even if I don't like it." he assured her, making sigh before stomping forward, looking as if she was sensing the ground beneath them.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm not going to do anything stupid, Twinkletoes." she acknowledged, before smirking.

"Okay, I've got a path." she declared before opening up a hole in the ground in front of her, creating the beginnings of a tunnel for them to take.

Zuko turned back to face the Kyoshi Warriors, "Hey, I have a request in mind." he suggested, Nakata stepping forward, with a suspicious glance, not looking surprised in the slightest.

"I saw this coming. What errand do we need to run for you now?" she asked him, the Prince pointing to the west of them, up toward the rim of the caldera.

"Suki and I broke into a facility where they were building war-balloons and these larger contraptions- I think they're called airships. I need you guys to steal one on the chance we find ourselves losing this fight." he told them, the warriors looking at each other for a moment before nodding; he handed them a map, with the given facility marked out, "It shouldn't be that hard to find, a big factory suspiciously close the caldera."

Amari raised a brow, "What do you want us to do with the rest of these airships?" she asked him, the Prince's eyes narrowing.

"Hopefully you won't need to sabotage them, but worst comes to bare, I'd ask that you make sure my father doesn't have a chance to have us chased down." he acknowledged, the warriors all looking to each other before turning their heels.

"Yeah, I can blow up some airships." Amari glanced back at him, making a cocky grin as she cracked her knuckles, "Go beat up your dad for us, Zuko."

The Prince sighed, giving them a wave, inciting his uncle to eagerly do the same with a bright smile on his face, "Good luck!"

Facing his new allies once more, he decided to take the next step and follow them down through the tunnel, which would lead them to face his father; he hoped that Azula got her opportunity to vent and get her thoughts out before their inevitable confrontation. As much as he wanted that person to be him, that being the one who got to mock their father before he was thrashed by the Avatar, he knew that it would make it all the more fitting for his favoured child to tell him that they were turning, right to his face.

Aang glanced back toward Katara, who hadn't followed after the group and entered the tunnel, "Katara, aren't you coming?" he asked the Water Tribe girl, who looked back to the caldera.

"No, I've got to make sure Dad's okay. I'm sure you, Toph and Sokka will be able to handle yourself on your own." she acknowledged, the young airbender smiling before looking over to Appa and Momo.

"You two take care of Katara, alright?" he asked the animals before turning his eyes to Zuko, "Come on, let's go." he prodded, the Prince following after, feeling a unusual feeling in his stomach; helping the Avatar had been his intention since he left Ba Sing Se, but now that he was actually doing it, he felt a sense of determination that he hadn't felt since he found since he encountered his sister in the Earth King's palace.

"Let's end this war, once and for all."

* * *

"Is this it?"

Azula's eyes turned back to face Suki, who looked rather uneasily at her, her face uncovered for the Princess to see; she wasn't feeling all that confident herself, standing before her father's personal room in the bunker that was hidden with a volcano of all places. She had made her decision, and she had to stand by it, as conflicted as it made her feel to turn against her father; it was not out of the same kind of morally charged desire to fix her nation, like Zuko's treachery was, but rather formed from both her desire to help her brother, and to defeat her deepest fears. Her father could never see her as a weakling if she came to fight him herself; her treachery was proving his point in a way- her will was insurmountable, what she desired to do, she would do, no matter the consequences. 

"Yes, it is. I am ready to commit my final act of treachery."

It had been treachery to kill Zhao, and she did it with no regret; it had been treachery the same to let her brother go on free from that little Earth Kingdom port, but she did it all the same. It wasn't a word she held any regard to, because in her eyes, her father would simply use it to describe her acting against his will, when in reality, she had never betrayed her own principles; her enemies would suffer the fate they deserved, and her allies would be held up and assisted whenever she could do so. She would not draw Mai and Ty Lee into her spat, because she knew that they did not bear the responsibility of her actions, and they would not suffer the same fate as her if she were to fail; Zuko, however, would suffer a terrible fate if she were to fail, and that is why she knew she could not.

"I'm going to be honest," the Kyoshi Warrior placed a hand on her shoulder, "I've never really liked you. You've been nothing but trouble for me." she admitted, making the Princess raise a brow at her.

"If you're trying to have a one-on-one pep talk here, you're not doing a good job at it." she chided her, making Suki roll her eyes.

"No, what I'm trying to say is that I'm glad. I'm happy that you and Zuko can see eye to eye, and now you're going to finally stand up to the man who's tried to control you your entire life." she explained, Azula curling her lips, thinking that was a much kinder thought from the Kyoshi Warrior.

"Thanks for your moral support, but I don't think that'll be much help in here." she admitted, before eyeing her helmet that sat under her left arm, "You best put that on, in case my father does try to have me arrested. A guard on the inside would be helpful."

Suki's eyes widened before nodding, "Huh, that's a pretty smart move. I'll be waiting for you, your highness." she bowed in a mocking act of deference.

The Princess eyed her with a disdainful glare for a moment before she turned her heels, "I'm ready. You better be ready for whatever comes our way." she suggested before stepping toward the metal doors of her father's bunker, opening them with both hands to reveal herself; she could already feel the total eclipse coming on, meaning that she was facing her father while there was no bending for either of them to use.

Looking forward, she saw her father sitting on a throne, drinking a cup of tea, surrounded by a number of his guards; his eyes darted to her before he placed his teacup down, "Princess Azula, what are you doing here? You're meant to be in the other room so you can deal with the Avatar's goons."

"I would be, but they've already been taken care of, Father." she lied to him one last time, with a curl of her lips.

"Then why are you here?" he narrowed his eyes at her, obviously suspicious of her intentions.

"Are you really that ignorant?" she quipped in return, actually concerned that her father didn't understand what was going that on.

"How dare you speak to me like this? I am the Fire Lord!" he scowled at her, clearly showing that she had roused his temper.

"You can't bend right now, Father, so I suggest you listen." she raised a finger, before the Fire Lord rolled his eyes, gesturing for his guards to leave.

"I'm sure you have a lot to say, don't you? Has Zuko really muddled with your mind that much?" he asked her, as if to try and prod her into anger; it didn't work, making her cross her arms.

"No, Father, I'm not hear to say much, but I do want to ask you something." she acknowledged, "How does it feel to have both your children turn against you, after all you tried to do to shape us into your weapons of war?"

"I ought to have burned you just like your brother, you insolent brat." he scowled, "You're a weakling just like Zuko."

"No, Father. I'm not weak, and neither is Zuko." she stressed, stepping forward, "A weakling would have refused to step up and question you, and your mad desire to destroy everything, to burn the world down and act like you own it."

"You can't surely believe that. You told me to use Sozin's Comet yesterday, did you not?" he asked her in response, as if her own words would undermine her current stance.

"That was because I wanted to serve by your side, but I see now, that position means nothing if I can't get what I want from it." she declared, the Fire Lord standing up, his fury starting to show.

"Then what do you want? Your uncle's foolish ideas of peace and love?" he accused her, the Princess shaking her head.

"No, I don't care for that, what I care for is our nation, and my brother." she declared, pointing at him, "When this day is up, he will be Fire Lord, and Fire Lord Ozai will be no more." she declared, Ozai clenching his fists.

"You've learnt nothing." he spat at her, "All that training, years of work, all for nothing."

She curled her lips, knowing that he was so wrong; her father was unimaginative and rigid in his thought process, unable to comprehend how she could twist his own teachings against him, "You taught me to be decisive and ruthless, and here I am, ready to show you what I've learnt. We both learned our lessons father, perhaps not how you would have liked us to."

"Really... so if you're so eager to betray me, why don't you end me right now." he asked his daughter, who simply curled her lips.

"Oh, well I could..." he admitted honestly, knowing she had something better in mind, "But I'd rather wait and see what happens."

"Your arrogance will be your undoing." he declared confidently, the Princess raising a brow, realising it would have been better to use a line like that against him first.

"I could say the very same thing to you."

* * *

Standing before an impressive looking metal door that formed an entrance to a large metal dome-like structure, Sokka looked on with awe; he didn't necessarily like the Fire Nation, but he was one to acknowledge a feat of engineering when he saw one. How such a large metal structure was built inside of a volcano was beyond him, his mind turning from thinking about its scale to considering how exactly they'd get into it.

"That's some door!" he exclaimed, Toph walking over to the door and banging it with her fist, as if to check if she could bend it.

"Not a problem." she curled her lips, before she jammed her elbows into the door, cracking it and making an audible creaking noise before stepping back; he raised a brow with interest, before he was amazed by the simple motion of her hands that threw the doors wide open, before stepping in and gesturing for them to enter.

"I am so glad we added you to the group!" he exclaimed with glee, Iroh following behind, scratching his beard.

"That was quite impressive. I've never see an earthbender bend metal before." he acknowledged, making Toph grin confidently as she walked on into the bunker.

"Well, yeah, I'm the greatest earthbender in the world." she proclaimed, making Sokka roll his eyes; even if was true, she didn't need to blatantly show it off so much.

Looking down to his timing device, Sokka realised that the eclipse had already begun, "Oh no! The eclipse has already started. We've got to find the Fire Lord quickly- we have less than eight minutes."

Zuko nodded, before pointing down the hallway, "I know where he's meant to be... well, I think I do." he clarified, earning a confused look from both Aang and the Water Tribe teen, who continued follow after the Fire Nation Prince as he led them along.

They raced on down through the tunnel, knowing that time wasn't on their side, as it seemed they had wasted a bit of it talking to their new allies when they could have been searching for the Fire Lord instead; when they turned a corner, they saw a Fire Nation official whistling as he casually strolled down the tunnel.

His eyes widened upon seeing the Fire Nation Prince, and even more when he made sight of the other four of them, "Prince Zuko! What are you doing with the Avatar?!" he shouted out in fear, before the Prince covered his mouth, making him shut up.

"War Minister Qin, where is my father? Really- where is he?" the Prince asked him, before releasing his hand from his mouth, while the other surrounded him, cornering in hopes to intimidate some information out of him.

Toph stood forward beside Zuko, "I can tell if you lie."

"The Fire Lord's chamber is that way," he pointed, "down the hall and to the left, up the stairs."

"He's not lying." Toph acknowledged, making Aang's eyes widen with surprise.

"Uh- thanks!" he exclaimed, before the six of them continued on, following the directions given by that certain man called Qin, who he recognised as being the guy who harassed the Mechanist to steal his inventions.

They took the turn to the left, and raced up the stairs, Aang taking the lead, his pace slowing as they fianlly reached a large doorway with imposing doors.

"I'm ready. I'm ready to face the Fire Lord." he declared, before blasting the doors open with airbending.

Inside Sokka made sight of an empty throne, groaning in frustration, "We have six minutes! Where is he?!" he grumbled, Zuko raising a hand.

"Azula said my father was in another chamber- she was meant to be here to distract you." he explained, making the Water Tribe teen point to the throne.

"Well, she clearly isn't here, is she?" he complained with frustration, knowing that they were wasting valuable time; before he could turn around to head back down the stairs, Toph tensed up as she raised a hand.

"Wait, we're not alone." she warned them, Sokka looking up above his head, seeing two men darkly robed men who held themselves up on the ceiling- Dai Li agents.

"Not these guys again!" he exclaimed, "Doesn't your sister control the Dai Li?" he asked the Prince, who sighed with frustration.

"Well, not really." he admitted, before grabbing Sokka by the shoulder, grasping the hilt of his space-sword, and drawing it out.

"Hey! That's my sword!" he grumbled, before he was forced to take a fighting stance with his boomerang, while the agents sent out pillars of stone in their direction.

"I needed a weapon, sorry!" he apologised, before he slashed the blade through the end of a stone pillar that was aiming to hit Iroh; Sokka jumped up onto the remains of a pillar, throwing his boomerang to strike one of the Dai Li agents, preventing them from ensnaring Aang, who threw an air blast at the momentarily distracted agent, sending him flying back into the wall.

Racing over to retrieve his boomerang, he dodged under another pillar that came his way, before Toph sent her own pillar up to pin the Dai Li agent; picking his boomerang up from the ground, he threw it at the the pinned agent, barely missing the careening blow. Without a weapon in hand, Sokka was defenceless against a stone glove that grasped him on the neck, beginning to choke him; he hammered his hands down on the stone glove, which pulled him up the wall, making him squirm as he struggled to break free.

As his vision began to blur, the Water Tribe teen gasping for air, he made out a familiar voice, "Hey, let him go!" Toph shouted at the agent, using her bending to strike him with a boulder; the momentary release of his bending made him fall back down to the ground, coughing as air returned into his lungs.

He looked around, trying to spot his boomerang, instead witnessing the two Dai Li agents having a showdown with both his friends who could hurl rocks at them in return; he eyed his boomerang, trying to crawl past the agents as inconspicuously as possible. Before he could reach the weapon, he saw a hand picking it up, Zuko having gotten a hold of his other favourite weapon; the Prince was kind enough to throw it his way, Sokka grabbing it before striking one of the Dai Li agents in the back of the head, throwing him forward before Aang was able to ensnare him with his own earthbending. Suddenly he felt the ground beneath him shaking, the Water Tribe warrior looking up to see cracks forming in the room, "They're going to collapse the roof!" he shouted out to warn his friends, racing over toward Toph, hoping that her teen seismic sense would protect him from the falling rocks, which quickly enough began to tumble down.

"Twinkletoes! The roof!" she shouted out, Iroh and Zuko retreating to standing by the other two, as the roof began to collapse down on them; the two earthbenders were able to hold the roof up in part, but finding themselves distracted by the earthbending, Toph was quickly grabbed by one of the Dai Li agents chains and dragged off her feet. The agent sent a rock glove down upon her, Zuko reaching forward to slash the chain before she could be hit right in the face; the glove still struck her in the gut, making her yelp in pain, while Sokka used grabbed his boomerang once more from the ground, hitting one of the agents out cold.

"Toph!" he shouted out, realising that his friend had gotten seriously injured, before he turned to face Aang, who was giving the other agent a final, well-deserved beat-down, throwing him out the door with a powerful gust of wind.

He raced over to his friend, who looked rather pained and disoriented, coughing as she tried to pull herself back up to her feet, "Ow, th-that hurt." she admitted, before pointing over to the door, "We need to get to the Fire Lord!" she exclaimed, before she slumped down, Sokka helping her stand up, Aang still struggling to hold up the roof as he turned to face Zuko and Iroh, before looking back to his two friends, seemingly unsure what to do; no matter what, defeating the Fire Lord was what mattered, and he needed to know that.

"Go! You need to defeat the Fire Lord!" he demanded of his friend, knowing that despite Toph being hurt, what they came there to do was more important than any single person, "You have three minutes!"

* * *

Zuko felt a sense of regret as he, his uncle and Aang raced on out of the room, the roof of which collapsed behind them; he was sure Toph was earthbending to ensure that she and Sokka didn't get crushed, but he couldn't help but worry for the girl. He barely knew her, but the fact she was willing to fight so strongly for her friends earned her his admiration. If he had just told them not to enter and try and find another room, they mightn't have had to face the Dai Li agents, and thus not wasted their precious time trying to find his father; if Qin wasn't lying, then it must be true that his sister and maybe a few guards would be the only ones to actually know where his father was hiding.

"Aang, can you sense through the ground like Toph can?" he asked him, the Avatar nodding as they raced down the staircase, coming to a halt when they reached the bottom.

"I can sense a... a lot of people, right down there." he pointed to their right, continuing down the hallway that they had taken prior.

"That's our best bet, what do you think, Uncle?" he asked Iroh, who nodded in agreement.

"Let's go. Your father will be waiting for us, or worse, waiting to fight Azula." he admitted with a fearful tone; now that Azula was on their side, she would face the full ire of their father, after all.

The trio raced down the hallway, before Aang came to a halt at the end of it, glancing about, "Huh, I can sense people, but not a path to them. There's a wall in the way." he acknowledged, the Prince stepping closer to it, "Well can you bend it?" he asked the Avatar, who eyed it momentarily before shifting his feet, the rock moving out of the way to reveal a metal door.

Aang gestured to the sword in the Prince's hand, which had rather unabashedly stolen from Sokka, "That can cut metal." he acknowledged, Zuko furrowing a brow before stabbing the blade through the lock, before forcing the door open, the metallic scratching noise rather painful to his ears.

Before them another staircase was revealed, except down this staircase stood a whole unit of palace guards, who he would expect might otherwise be protecting his father; even without bending, they were no pushovers, but Aang funnily enough, decided to try and deal with them with a wind blast, throwing them back somewhat, but leaving them unnerved, the men drawing out their fists, no matter if they had firebending or not. Readying the sword in his right hand, he raced forward to meet their opponents, striking the guards down that tried to come at him, but soon found himself being surrounded by them. As they tried to climb the stairs, Aang turned them into a muddy sludge, making them trip and fall as they tried to climb up. He was using his airbending and earthbending to block and fling back the guards, while Zuko and Iroh stood back to back, knocking the guards back with sword and fist respectively; his uncle's prison exercise regime paid off greatly, it seemed, able to beat down more guards with his fists than the Prince was able to with Sokka's sharp jian broadsword.

"Take this!" Aang shouted out, throwing a number of the guards backwards with pillars of earth he drew out from the remains of the stairs, allowing the trio to advance, the Prince jumping down to kick a guard in the chest, landing on his feet and readying his blade as both he and the Avatar stood back to back, surrounded on all sides.

Zuko swung his sword down on a guard to tried to punch him, throwing him down to the ground before he hit another in the helmet, throwing it off of his head; distracted by the pure number of guards, he was tackled to the ground by one of them, Aang throwing the guard off with an blast of air, before his uncle arrived, his quick fists hammering through the guards that remained between him and his nephew.

"Prince Zuko!" he called out to him, grasping two guards by their collars before throwing them into the walls to either side of him; he reached to give him a hand helping him up, while the Prince turned his yees toward the guards that remained.

"We need to get through them!" he told the Avatar, who flared his teeth, sending pillars of stone into the guards that stood ahead of them; Zuko grasped on the hilt of the sword before racing forward, knocking back one of the guards before Aang joined in, throwing air blasts with his staff, forcing the guards back inch by inch, until the trio was knocking them down like sticks in the mud.

"Z-Zuko, I can feel it coming. The eclipse is about the end!" he exclaimed, Aang's eyes widening, before she spun his staff, creating a whirlwind that threw the guards off of their feet.

As the Avatar raced on past the momentarily knocked back guards, the Prince shouted to him, "Go find the Fire Lord!" hoping that the young Avatar would be fast enough to find Ozai.

Looking at the reeling guards, Zuko readied his sword, watching them return to their feet, ready to fight him until they were all knocked unconscious; as the guards turned to face Aang, who was quickly racing away, they began to chase after him. Knowing that he couldn't let them catch up, Zuko charged forward, using the blunt face of the sword to swipe at their calves, knocking them off them their feet.

"Traitors!" one of the guards called them out, Iroh curling his lips as he readied his stance.

"We are saving our nation, you just don't see it yet." he declared, before taking a fist that came his way, throwing the guard into the wall before he used his forearms to block the guards; Zuko swung his blade around, knocking the guards back before knocking one of them out by using the sword to slam them into the wall.

He flared his teeth, sending a kick into one of the guards that tried to tackle him- again; he swung his sword around once more, whacking a helmet off one of the guards' head. Continuing to whack the enemy back, he thrust his sword forward, forcing the guards out of the way, clearing a path for he and his uncle to take; he grasped Iroh by the forearm, dragging him forward as he began to run.

"We need to get to father before it's too late!"

* * *

Standing behind the door of the Fire Lord's secret bunker, Suki could only vaguely make out what Azula was saying to her father, but from what she could hear, both of them were rather angry, the Fire Lord's shouts unintelligible but clearly directed at the Princess. She made out the words 'weakness', 'traitor' and 'your brother' a lot, the Kyoshi Warrior twitching at the thought of Ozai going after Zuko. She realised that the eclipse had already been going on for a few minutes, meaning that Azula either had to beat the crap out of her father at that instance or they would be facing the full wrath of the Fire Lord; despite what she could hear in the distance, Aang hadn't arrived, and thus she assumed that the Princess would be facing her father alone.

"I've had enough of this." she declared to herself, "I'll do it myself."

She didn't intend to fight the Fire Lord, but if Zuko's sister was crazy enough to prod him into shooting lightning at him, then she would have to do something; her boyfriend had tasked her with protecting the Princess of the Fire Nation, and if she was too reckless to do that herself, that Suki would have to take charge. Pushing open the two doors, she saw Azula standing some distance away from the Fire Lord, who looked very angry as he stood by his throne.

"You will beg for mercy! I will destroy you!" he declared, the Kyoshi Warrior rolling her eyes as she approached the Princess, "What are you doing? I will deal with my treacherous daughter!" he asked the disguised girl, who he obviously thought was a guard coming to apprehend his daughter.

"Oh," Azula curled her lips, "I'm not getting arrested. This is your son's lover." she gestured to Suki, before the Fire Lord's eyes widened with shock.

"What is the meaning of-" he began to shout, before he was hit square in the head by a retracted fan, which she had thrown overarm at him; he grunted with pain, slumping down slightly in the throne as he grasped at his pained forehead; she grasped the Princess by the shoulder, knowing that they had to leave before the Fire Lord regained the ability to firebend.

"Azula, we need to get out of here. The Avatar won't get here in time." she warned her, the Princess nodding, before her eyes widened, as if she had just realised something had gone terribly wrong.

"Get down!" she screamed at Suki as she threw her arm back to hit the warrior in the head, throwing down onto her back as she turned to face her father, who had in the span of a second generated a lightning bolt, firing it right at his daughter; she quite literally caught the lightning, bending it through her body, making her scream out in pain as she her the attack in her her arms, whose eyes widened with utter fear upon witnessing the result of his attack.

"Azula!" she shouted out in fear, the Princess screaming at the top of her lungs as she redirected the lightning back out of her finger tips; the lightning bolt caused an explosion which threw Ozai back, although he was obscured from the Kyoshi Warrior's sight a column of flames and smoke that filled the very place where he once stood.

The Princess fell down to the ground unconscious, Suki catching her in her arms before she tried to drag her away, pulling her by slinging her hands under her armpits; looking at the smoke where the Fire Lord once was, she hoped that he had surely perished, but groans of pain indicated that her worst fears were confirmed- he survived. She continued pulling her back, trying to get Azula out of the room before her father decided to finish them off; when she was a few steps away from the door, she heard another familiar voice behind her, calling out in fear.

"I'm too late!" she heard Aang shout, the Kyoshi Warrior looking back at him with a face of horror, the only emotion she could feel after seeing what happened to the Princess; he sent up a wall of earth between the pair and the Fire Lord, "Suki!" he exclaimed her upon recognising her, racing over to help her carry Azula out of the room, "What happened?"

"Sh-she saved me. The Fire Lord tried to kill us both with a lightning bolt, but she redirected it... right back at him." she explained herself, the Avatar nodding with a terrified face, before the pair exited the room; turning back, he pulled his hands downward, using earthbending to collapse the entrance, as to make sure the Fire Lord couldn't follow after them.

"We need to get out of here!" he told her with a panicked tone, pulling Azula into his arms, holding her up by himself, despite the weight of her armour, before using his airbending to speed up his pace; Suki raced on after him, the two of them quickly moving down the hallway, eventually reaching Zuko and Iroh, who were both shocked by their appearance, still running in the direction of the Fire Lord's secret room.

"Wh-what happened?" the Prince fearfully asked them, the Avatar, looking down at Azula.

"I- I was too late. The Fire Lord shot her with lightning." he explained to him, his uncle looking to the Kyoshi Warrior with a grimace.

"Did she redirect the lightning?" he asked her, making her nod, knowing that was the truth despite the consequences.

"She didn't... she didn't do it right." she acknowledged, before Zuko took her from Aang's arms, looking at him with a serious face- the kind of serious face he pulled when he was ready to kill people to save his friends.

"Aang, get Sokka and Toph. You need to get out of here, right now!" he demanded, the Avatar looking at them with fear.

"Wh-what about you guys? I can't leave you here." he told them, still determined to help them, despite the odds.

"We have our own way out, don't worry." the Prince assured him with a grasp on the shoulder, handing him a black-bladed jian sword, which the Kyoshi Warrior had never seen before.

Iroh nodded along pointing down the hallway, "Go! You must hurry! The army will be coming for you." he warned, the young airbender making a grimace before he sped off down the hallway.

The three of them quickly paced down the hallway, approaching the scene of a previous fight; the personal guards of the Fire Lord, all knocked unconscious, although it seemed like a few of them were coming to from whatever beating the combined force of the Avatar, her boyfriend and his uncle gave them. Racing past the group of guards, Suki dispensed of the layers of armour that she had been wearing in exchange for increased agility, knowing she'd need it as they were running for whatever escape route they were taking. She assumed that Zuko intended to make a break for the war-balloon they had stolen, but then she came to realise the other Kyoshi Warriors weren't around, meaning that they must have had something to do with escape plan.

"Where are the girls?" she asked him as they were striding up what remained of a staircase with some struggle; he looked back at her, with a serious face.

"Getting us a way out of here." he simply told her, before they reached the top of the stairs, continuing race forward down the hallway, heading toward the only exit out of the massive bunker; running forward, she made sight of the metal doors, which had been broken open since she last entered through them. She made sight of a crude tunnel near the exit, realising that was how the group had entered the bunker.

"Follow me!" Zuko explained, the group turning instead to the staircase Suki herself had taken to enter the bunker when she had followed Azula down.

He led them up the staircase part way, until he turned at a bend in the staircase, leading them down another hallway; there was a door at the end of it, which he kicked down with his firebending, leading it to a place she recognised- the catacombs of the city; the group raced forward through the labyrinthine hallways, the Prince holding a map in hand, taking a few turns before leading them down a very long and empty hallway. They continued on down it until the very end, Suki realising that they weren't going in the direction of the farmhouse or any of the exits that she knew of.

"Where are we going?" she asked him, curious as to how he intended to leave the city, seeing that they weren't heading in the direction of the farmhouse the Kyoshi Warriors had been hiding in.

"To get a bigger balloon."


	50. Up in the Air

_"So, nephew, what do you want to do today?"_

_Zuko rose up from the deck of his ship, after having completed a good few push-ups and sit-ups, preparing himself for training before his uncle decided to throw that idea overboard; asking him what he wanted to do was like asking Zuko what he'd like for dinner- he'd like dinner, but he didn't really care what he had._

_"I thought I'd be training, like I should be doing." he told Iroh with a matter-of-fact tone, the retired general rolling his eyes gesturing to him._

_"Nephew, you've already exhausted yourself. You're telling me that you want to continue doing training, set after set, all day?" he asked the Prince, who raised a brow suspiciously, unsure what his uncle was getting at._

_"Well, I don't have anything better to do." he simply acknowledged what he thought to be the truth of the situation; he didn't want to do anything other than better his firebending skills so he could face the Avatar one day, so he'd do just that._

_"Maybe you'd like to-" he began, Zuko raising a finger to cut him off._

_"Before you even say it, Uncle, I'm not picking up a stupid hobby like Pai Sho." he warned him, before gesturing for his uncle to continue his suggestion; the retired general sighed, looking down at his nephew with a mix of pity and frustration._

_"You can actually do things that you like doing, Prince Zuko." he told the Prince, who raised a brow at him._

_"I don't 'like' doing anything. Every I do has a purpose." he declared, the General raising a brow at him._

_"And I assume that purpose is to complete your quest?" he asked him rhetorically, the Prince not even having to vocalise his confirmation for Iroh to continue, obviously having a musing or proverb in mind._

_"Nephew, your life is like a cup that is slowly being emptied, drop by drop. Eventually there will be no more drops left, even if it looks like it will take forever to reach that point. You think because your cup has so much water left in it, you'd be willing to be miserable while you wait to find the Avatar." he explained, before pointing at Zuko, "Do you want to spend all your time doing things that you don't find enjoyable, or do you want to experience some happiness in your life while you still have so much of it to live?"_

_"I'm not miserable." he refuted his words, before eyeing him with a disdainful glare, "I can be happy once I've returned to my rightful place." he quipped in a snappy tone that he had grown quite accustomed to when it came to his uncle._

_"What about before you get there? You don't want to spend every day until you find the Avatar unhappy and unwilling to enjoy life." he questioned him, suggesting that he would just spend his days angry and moping around._

_"Fine, Uncle!" he flared his teeth, "What stupid thing do you want me to do now?" he asked him, the retired general shrugging his shoulders._

_"I don't know, Prince Zuko. That is up for you to decide." he acknowledged, the Prince making a sigh as he walked over to the railing of his ship; he glanced out to the water, looking up at the morning sun that wasn't that high above the horizon._

_"I'd like to train, Uncle." he declared, Iroh sighing, before stepping closer to him._

_"Okay, I understand, but how about we train a little differently?" he suggested, Zuko glancing back at him with a sceptical glare._

_"Really? And how different are we talking?" he questioned his uncle, who chuckled at his words._

_"I want to tutor you. Not on the usual things you're trained on." he explained, before narrowing his eyes, "I want to train you in things that will help you in your role as Crown Prince."_

_"But, Uncle, I'm-" he began to argue, before he was cut off._

_"No, you will be Crown Prince once again, and you will one day be the Fire Lord just the same. When that day comes, you should be ready." he explained, the Prince nodding, considering that his uncle's point was the first bit of advice he'd gotten about his training regime that might improve him as a prince._

_"I guess... I guess that's a good idea, Uncle." he agreed with his suggestion, making a small smile to indicate appreciated the thought, "Let's do that."_

_"Brilliant." Iroh beamed, "All the things I learnt when I was your age will finally come in handy, because I can teach it to someone else." he explained, the Prince remembering that he had been Crown Prince all his life, until he was unceremoniously removed from the line of succession by his brother's ascension to the throne; the similarities between the two of them were too obvious to ignore, and he would rather not believe that he'd end up like his uncle._

_"U-uh, yes. That makes sense, Uncle." Zuko conceded, before turning back to face him, "So, what... wisdoms, do you have for me?"_

_"A prince must be ready to serve." he raised a finger, before eyeing his nephew, "That means you should always prepare yourself to make actions in the best interest of the Fire Nation."_

_"The best interest of the Fire Nation?" he asked him in clarification, unsure what he meant; the dutiful young Zuko would have said it was following the plan set out by their ancestor, Fire Lord Sozin, in bringing the prosperity of the Fire Nation to the world, but the banished prince didn't agree with that sentiment as well as he used to._

_"It is what you believe it is. That is the virtue of your role." he explained, "My father told me that, but I believe that he meant it in the regard that I should follow his ambitions rather than my own."_

_"So... this just takes us back to my quest, Uncle. I don't see the point you're trying to make." he grumbled, stepping closer to him, "So what is it? How can I serve in any way other than to find the Avatar?"_

_"Will finding the Avatar help the Fire Nation?" he asked the Prince bluntly, Zuko's eyes narrowing before he nodded._

_"Well, of course, he's the biggest threat we face." he said, repeating the fact he knew to be true; he was the only one who would dare oppose the Fire Nation and actually be able to do anything about it._

_"But if you were not to ever find him, would he try and stop the Fire Nation's quest for world domination?" he furthered his question, the Prince sighing, as he realised his uncle had a point._

_"No, you're right. But there must be some reason the Avatar is hiding. He can't just be out there, waiting for the 'right' time to strike. What is that time, Uncle?" he asked in return, Iroh's eyes narrowing._

_"I don't know, Prince Zuko. He mightn't even exist anymore, and if he still does, I don't know why he hasn't done anything."_

_"Well, if he does come back, we need to be ready." he declared, the retired general sighing before placing his hands on the railing._

_"Until then, you should focus on realising your potential as Crown Prince. You can achieve great things Prince Zuko, you just haven't realised it, yet."_

* * *

Standing over the several incapacitated Fire Nation soldiers that had been guarding the airship factory, Amari curled her lips, realising they would be able to steal an airship with not much effort; it turned out that the Fire Nation Army were utter pushovers when none of their firebenders could bend, and they were already standing before a number of massive airships, the vehicles far larger and more complex than the war-balloon Zuko and Suki had stolen. She turned to see Esumi lying on her back, reeling a hit she had received from one of the last resisting soldiers; offering a hand to her fellow Kyoshi Warrior, she smiled at her reassuringly.

"We've got this." she declared, before lifting her to her feet, gesturing to the airship that was docked right in front of them, "Now, all we need to do is get this thing in the air."

"How can we do that?" Nakata questioned her, "It's not like we know how to use one of these things." she declared, the warrior walking over to one of the men they had beaten, a Fire Nation soldier who was shirtless bar a shoulder plate with a mask over his face; she pulled his head up and gestured to the unconscious man.

"I'm pretty sure these guys are the ones that maintain the vehicles." she explained, before curling her lips, pointing to the entrance of one of the airships, "They must have some plans- schematics that explain how these things run." she explained, grabbing a scroll from his belt, smirking before waving to her fellow warriors; the scroll she had detailed a map of an airship's structure and basic, but useful descriptions of what each of the parts did.

"Let's go steal us an airship." Amari declared, racing forward to approach the entrance of the vehicle; as she approached, she made sight of the a number of guards, who were still stationed inside the vehicle, obviously taking note of the Kyoshi Warriors spectacular break-in to the facility.

The guards tensed up, but immediately began attacking them with firebending, much to their surprise; that meant that the eclipse was over, but even then, the Kyoshi Warriors had the advantage of surprise; they all moved into formation, using their shields to deflect the flames, pulling out their katana blades, ready to strike the guards as they moved in a line toward the enemy. They sent a number of volleys of fireballs, but they were unable to force the Kyoshi Warriors back, the four of them lunging forward to strike them with their blades, tripping their opponents and knocking them down with swift swings of their swords. When they were on the ground, Amari made no relent in knocking them out cold with strikes to their heads; the groans and cries they made were of no worry to her as she continued on into the airship, taking note of the hallway that stretched down the length of the airship to either side.

Sawa pointed down to their left, "We need to get to the bridge, that's where the controls are, right?" she asked Amari, who looked down to the schematics, nodding as she found that assumption confirmed.

"Yep, that's how we'll get this thing in the sky." she explained before she began to race on down the hallway, another few guards standing in their way.

"Hey! What are you doing here?!" one of them shouted out, the Kyoshi Warriors ignoring his words, readying their fans as they quickly moved to strike them; their weapons quickly knocked them down, striking their helmets and forcing them down to the floor, before they restrained them, one warrior holding them down while the other incapacitated them.

The group didn't rest for much more than a second before they broke into a sprint once more, heading down to the end of the hallway, where a metal doorway stood before them.

Amari heard the cry of a guard behind the door, "You're not getting through!" he shouted at them; the Kyoshi Warrior grabbing a small bomb from her belt, one which Suki had relented to give her when she demanded she steal it from the palace armoury- she had a gut feeling that it'd come in handy, eventually.

"Amari, for once, I really like your crazy desire to destroy things." Nakata admitted, patting her shoulder as she knelt over, placing the bomb on the door handle, before she pulled along the spark cord, walking back a few strides from the door to a corner which they could hide behind.

"You have five seconds to open that door! We're going to blow you to the spirit world otherwise." Esumi shouted out a gruff warning, turning to her comrade when she heard no response.

"Okay, you have my permission to blow up the door." she acknowledged, making Amari snicker.

"You think I was waiting for permission? Prepare to eat steel, ash-makers!" she shouted out as she sparked the cord, which quickly travelled along, the bomb exploding a moment later, making the whole airship reverberate as the door was shattered and flung into the bridge; the cries of the men inside suggested that the bomb did its job quite effectively.

Turning around the corner, they raced forward into the bridge of the airship, where the guards and the captain of the vehicle were recovering from the door that struck them; Amari and Nakata threw fans at the guards to knock them out, while Esumi and Sawa whacked them swiftly with their fans, throwing the guards off of their feet. Quickly enough, the airship's captain was the only one who remained standing, leaning back toward the controls with a fearful face.

"Oh, spirits!" he shouted out in utter terror; to shut him up, Amari punched in the gut before she threw his head into the metal steering wheel, which was a suitable make-shift weapon to beat him with.

Looking at his unconscious body, she eyed around, realising that they had won their fight and secured an airship, even if she didn't exactly know how to get it off the ground. With all of the people in the bridge incapacitated, Nakata and Sawa turned to grab each of the men by their hands and feet, dragging them out of the room, while the other two warriors turned to scanning the mechanical controls.

"Okay..." Esumi raised a finger to her chin, "This lever has a label that says 'lift'." she acknowledged, "If we push it up, will we be lifted into the air?"

"Maybe." Amari acknowledged with a bewildered face, "I have no idea how this thing is going to fly."

* * *

Looking down at his unconscious sister in his arms, Zuko felt a sense of growing dread; he didn't know if she was going to wake up, or if they would even be able to escape the Fire Nation Capital before the army caught up with them. They had just left the catacombs of the city, racing down a dirt path from the rim of the caldera down toward the airship factory, where the vehicles were likely about to be launched; they were the perfect weapon to deal down damage to and corner the invading force, although from the looks of what he could see, which was the large metal frame balloons peering out above the walled complex, they weren't necessarily damaged. He crossed his fingers as he tried to run as fast as he could, Suki and Iroh speeding ahead of him, both of them quickly approaching the exterior wall of the airship factory; he didn't want the Kyoshi Warriors ending up captured again by the Fire Nation, but he was sure they had used the eclipse to their advantage- even the toughest firebending soldiers would stand no chance against the skilled warriors. He took note of the ajar doorway at the entrance, and a number of unconscious guards standing by the entrance.

"They've definitely been here." Suki acknowledged, before she opened the door, revealing an even larger group of unconscious soldiers.

"These girls sure know how to fight." Iroh's eyes widened, before the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors placed her hands on her hips with a confident smirk.

"They have a bone to pick with the Fire Nation." she clarified before the trio looked forward, noting the five large airships that sat ready to attack the invasion force, although Zuko couldn't tell which of them the warriors had tried to steal; his eyes narrowed ahead of him, seeing what looked to be a Kyoshi Warrior heaving an unconscious guard off of an airship, throwing their body down the stairs.

She looked their way and waved, "They're here!" she shouted out, the Prince recognising the voice as belonging to Sawa; the trio raced forward, realising that their path of escape was awaiting them.

He sighed with relief as he smiled at Suki brightly, feeling that they were finally going to be safe; his eyes looked down to Azula, who was unconscious, but from the twitching and slight groans of pain she made, indicated that she was well and truly alive. He just hoped they got in the air before she woke up, thinking that she might demand that they return so she could go and fight their father- again.

Arriving at the stairs, he saw Nakata and Sawa standing at the top, "Come on, we've got to get this thing moving!" the former directed them, the three of them racing up the stairs; both of the warriors eyed Azula with unease, obviously not trusting her, but also afraid, seeing the state she was in.

"Who did that to her?" Sawa dared to ask, the Prince grimacing as he reached the top of the stairs.

"Our father." he clarified, making the two warriors grimace, mirroring his own face, before they turned their heels.

As he entered, they pulled a lever each, which retracted a portion of the staircase up as well as closing the doorway, as to ensure no one would fall out while they were flying; he carried his sister along down the hallway, following his uncle and Suki, until Iroh pointed out a room.

"Nephew, you can lay your sister down in here." he suggested, the Prince peering in to see a small bedroom with bunks; he nodded at his uncle, walking in and kneeling slowly to rest Azula on one of the beds.

He heard her groan in pain, squinting as she made the first word he heard her utter since he found her, "Wh-where?" she mumbled under her breath in a pained voice.

"We're safe, Zula." he assured her, grasping her hand, which scrunched up, almost in a flinch; her eyes opened, looking at him with a pained look.

"Good." she acknowledged before she leaned her head back, closing her eyes once again.

"Did she wake up, Zuko?" he heard Iroh's voice behind him; he turned back and gave a nod, smiling as he did so; he knew she was in pain, but she looked to be capable of speech, a good sign of her recovery.

"I think she's passing in and out of consciousness. I'm just happy we're here." he admitted, before he heard the sound of rotors spinning in the distance, the hum of engines making a light but noticeable vibration throughout the airship, "We're moving."

He stood up from his sister's side, momentarily glancing back at her, before turning to Suki, who had been standing by the doorway, looking at him with a grimace, obviously feeling regret and unease from whatever occurred down in that secret room. He turned to his uncle, who without a word continued down the hall, obviously getting that they were about to have 'a talk'.

"I'm sorry, Zuko." she admitted, her eyes looking down with shame, "Its my fault."

"I'm sure you di-" he began, before she shook her head.

"No, you don't get it. What happened to her... she was getting ready to face your face. Waiting for the eclipse to end. At least that's what I think. Then I raced in, thinking we should have run, trying to knock out your father before he could have the chance." she furthered, covering her face with a hand, "Then she pushed me out of the way... to catch the lightning bolt that would have killed me." she began to sob, Zuko hugging her tightly, trying to assure her that everything was alright; Azula wasn't dead, he was sure of that- he was sure the universe was repaying her for her almost extreme sense of determination, knowing that she couldn't give up without a fight.

"You tried your best. You were only trying to save her. So was I." he admitted with a saddened tone, before his lips curled upward, thinking about how heroic his sister had been in saving Suki from their father, "She can save herself, and if she can save others... she can help us save the world."

Releasing her from their embrace, he looked down the hallway, the Kyoshi Warrior wiping the tears from her eyes, "Let's... let's go to the bridge." she suggested, the Prince nodding, grasping her hand before they walked along the hallway, down toward where he could hear the distinctive voices of the warriors and his uncle.

Reaching the end of the hallway, the Prince's eyes widened at the sight of what looked like a bent and unhinged door, leaning up at the end of the hallway; it seemed like someone had broken into the bridge in a rather explosive fashion, making him shake his head, trying to not laugh at the thought of the Kyoshi Warriors scaring the life out of a bunch of unsuspecting Fire Nation soldiers with explosives.

When they got to the bridge, he finally caught onto the conversation that was going on, hearing Amari grumbling at the other Kyoshi Warriors, "Come on! That's what Zuko said, didn't he? Sabotage!"

"We don't even know how it works!" Esumi grumbled in response, "You could blow up the whole airship!"

Iroh, who had been standing by the side-lines, tried to mediate between the two girls, "Now, now, I'm sure we can all agree we shouldn't try anything until we get in the air."

The Prince decided to intervene in the conversation, "Yes, Uncle is right. We should use whatever weapons this airship has available to damage the others, but we actually need to leave the ground first." before his eyes turned forward to the front window, seeing a number of the soldiers that the Kyoshi Warriors had knocked out regaining consciousness, "Speaking of which, look who's waking up." he gestured to the group before eyeing the warriors, "I'm pretty sure they're going to cause us a lot of trouble if we don't get moving."

Nakata sat down by the front of the bridge, looking over the controls, "Here goes nothing." she grimaced before pulling a lever down with some struggle, the Prince feeling the ground beneath them shake as the airship slowly, but surely rose from the solid ground beneath them.

"Yeah!" Amari raised a fist, beaming with confidence, "Now!" she pointed to Zuko, "Do you want us to deal some damage, your majesty?" she asked him with the mocking deference that sounded far too genuine at that point.

"Yes- yes, I do." he smiled, the Kyoshi Warrior turning to a panel that looked to have a number of smaller levers on it it.

"Can you turn this thing around? We're not going to do anything if we drop bombs on the ground right below us." she requested of her fellow warriors, Sawa grabbing the steering wheel and turning it, the view he could see out of the bridge slowly turning as they rose above the airship factory.

As the massive vehicle began to turn and move forward, Amari looked to the rest of the group, almost giddy, "Oh- I'm really excited now. Ready?" she asked them, the group nodding, Zuko peering out the side window of the bridge to check below them, "Bombs away!" she proclaimed, as small cylindrical explosives began to drop from the airship, the sound of them exploding on the airships below booming loudly as they flew over a good few of the airships, before Sawa turned the steering wheel once more, turning them in the direction of the caldera.

"Rise!" she told Nakata, who complied, pulling the lever once more, leading the airship to ascend faster than it did before, moving quickly up along toward the rim of the caldera that towered above the land below it; the Prince eyed the warrior who had control over their weapons, pointing at her with suspicion.

"Don't you dare drop explosives on the palace. I actually want to live there when this is all over and done with." he warned her, Iroh turning to face her as well, giving her a concerned look; that face seemed to have broken her smirk.

"N-no, no, don't worry. You can keep your palace." she told them reassuringly, before the Prince turned his eyes back down toward the ground.

Looking at the invasion force, which had by that point taken control of a decent portion of the Caldera City, although he assumed the army would soon arrive to capture them; he hoped that the Avatar's ragtag alliance made it out safely, knowing that he might need their help in the fight to come. Even if his father had been victorious that afternoon, Azula was on his side, the Avatar held him relatively high regard, and they were all ready to work together to defeat his father, and finally end the hundred years of war that had plagued the world, something that Zuko felt personally responsible for, it being the doing of his own family.

"We will return, one day." he declared, catching the attention of the warriors as well as his uncle, "And we will win."

* * *

The feeling of a ringing in the back of her head made Azula want to scream. She was barely awake, yet the pain continued to fill her body; she was barely able to open her eyes, let alone speak. She had been slipping in and out of consciousness for what she thought must have been hours; the last distinct memory she had was her brother looking at her, his face a distorted memory, but a calming one nonetheless. Before that, all she had was a haze, a mix of light, sound, and the painful feeling that coursed through her body; she had never been the one on the opposing end of a lightning bolt, but she never imagined it to be as bad as it was. She knew it was a fatal attack if used correctly against one's opponents, but she thought her innate connection to firebending might save her from the pain that she endured; she realised as she writhed in pain, curling up in pain, that she was wrong to assume that. As she made mumbled sounds to express her anguish, she felt a hand on her shoulder; she tried to turn around and open her eyes- she wanted to make sure it was her brother. She heard his croaky voice, although she was unable to distinguish what he was saying, being too far away; she realised as she opened her eyes, that the person holding her shoulder wasn't Zuko, but instead it was his girlfriend, whose wide blue eyes looked deeply into her own, as if she was trying to discern what Azula was thinking by reading her mind.

"How much does it hurt?" she asked the Princess, who tilted her head back onto the pillow the bed she was lying on; of all the things that came through her head, the uncomfortable, poor bedding that she was lying on was not the first she expected to take hold.

"Bad." she mumbled, "Really bad." she tried to stress.

"I'm going to go get some ice. There's coolers on the schematics, isn't there, Zuko?" she asked the Princess's brother, who she assumed was standing someone else in the room, where she couldn't see him.

"Yeah, they're done near the engine room." he told the Kyoshi Warrior, before she left Azula's side, walking on out of the room and out of her field of view.

"Zuzu." she whispered her pet name for him, hoping that he'd respond to her.

Feeling his hand on her scalp made her feel calmer, sighing as she tried to hold back groaning or grumbling from the pain that she felt; it was like someone had stabbed a thousand needles all over her body, her arms and chest hurting especially bad.

He hushed her, "Don't worry, Zula. We'll make sure you get better." he assured her, before his hand left her face.

"P-please..." she mumbled, before turning her head to the side, trying to get herself more comfortable; Zuko knelt down beside her, looking at her with an uneasy, but warm smile.

"I'm right here, don't worry." she heard his words, Azula's left hand reaching out to grasp at him, his hand touching her own, sending a shiver down her spine.

"Everything hurts." she mumbled softly, so quietly she was unsure he could hear her.

"I know." her brother told her once more, before smiling at her, more confidently that he looked before, "You're tough, Zula." his words assured her of what she already knew; strength wouldn't help her, not when she couldn't help herself.

She closed her eyes, trying to keep her breathing under control as her fingers fumbled over Zuko's palm, unable to keep them still as she twitched from the constant pain she could feel, as if they were being stabbed.

"Wh-what... what happened..." she mumbled, hoping a little story, no matter how distressing, would distract her from the pain she felt.

"Father shot you with lightning." he told her, as a matter of fact that she already was well aware of; she was the one writhing it pain from it after all, "The Avatar couldn't get to him before he got his bending back, and that meant... the invasion failed, we had to flee."

"Where... where are we now?" she asked him, the Prince's eyes looking at her with some unease.

"An airship." he explained, making her curl her lips slightly; she remembered at the moment what she had asked of Lo and Li all those months prior.

"I- I knew... I knew they would be useful." she declared with the most confident voice she could, not more than a whisper.

He grasped her hand, his head drooping down to the edge of the mattress, "I should have been there."

"I didn't..." she mumbled, twitching as she felt a spark of pain down her arm, before she opened her eyes, "... didn't need your help." she chided him, knowing that she could have defeated her father if she had just been better prepared for his lightning bolt.

"I found it." she heard Suki's voice return, Azula's eyes darting upward in an attempt to make sight of her; Zuko let go of her hand for a moment, before he held a small bag of ice by her face, the slowly melting water dripping down on her face, making the Princess twitch.

"Where does it hurt the most?" he asked her, making her move her right hand slightly, gesturing to her abdomen.

"Here." she directed, her brother placing the icepack on her abdomen, making her tremble from the sudden temperature change, before she sighed, feeling the pain around her torso lessen slightly.

The lack of pain around her torso, made her hands instinctively move toward the icepack, placing her palms over it, which made her hands feel numb, a feeling that improved her mood from one of pained indifference to hope; she smiled, if only for a moment, feeling the need to express her happiness.

"Is that better?" he asked her, making her pull her chin down toward her collarbone, attempting to nod; his lips curling into a small, but significant smile, showing her that he was glad that her state had improved, even if only slightly, "Don't worry, Zula. We'll try and find a healer- I think I know someone who might be able to help." he admitted, making Azula's eyes narrow, thinking as to the only person he might know who would be able to help her with her injuries.

"Oh, the water peasant." she mumbled, "You think she'll help?" she questioned her brother, who sighed, before nodding, looking rather seriously at her.

"This happened because you decided to go against our father. I don't think Katara will want to be a hypocrite." he assured her, the Princess curling her lips.

"Th-that's good." she acknowledged, "Then I can do it." she declared, her brother raising a brow at her.

"Do what?" he asked her, looking concerned; he probably thought she intended to do something absurd, but then again, it was a rather absurd albeit well-reasoned thought.

"Kill our father, idiot."

* * *

Looking out over the open sea that lay below the airship, Suki's eyes scanned the clouds that sat between them and the water, watching them move on past as their aircraft sped along; they had been travelling for a whole day, having reached the seas north of the Fire Nation proper, well away from any Fire Nation military forces that might be sent after them. She didn't know what was going to happen, or where they were going to land, but Iroh told her that they should think about finding Aang and his friends, who must have escaped the Fire Nation Capital on Appa; they had left the city before the group fled, so none of them had any good idea where they would have gone. She knew that they needed to find them again, Zuko having promised his sister that he would get Katara to heal her; none of them wanted to risk trying to find healers somewhere else, knowing that as soon as his father knew where they were, they would be hunted down and forced to flee.

"It goes on forever." she mumbled, looking out to water, "They won't find us." she assured herself, before turning around to walk down the hallway, considering that she ought to go do something; she had already had breakfast, but Suki came to realise that there wasn't much for her and the warriors to do on the airship but simply wait until they arrived at their destination.

She didn't know where they were going, but as far from the Fire Nation and the Fire Lord as possible was what she assumed was the case; Sawa had turned the wheel to send them across the sea, and since then, they had been bee-lining to the north-east of the Fire Nation capital. None of the remaining airships that were left after their bombing of the airship factory came after them, or at the very least, she couldn't see any in pursuit; she dreaded what would happen if they had to fight another airship, feeling that if they were to fall into the sea, she was unsure if they would survive.

When she arrived at the bridge of the ship, she saw Iroh sitting next to Amari, both of them drinking tea, "Hey boss." her subordinate addressed her, "How are you feeling?"

"F-fine." she assured her, sitting down beside her and Zuko's uncle, who turned to her with an intrigued glance.

"You don't look like you've had much sleep." he acknowledged, making Suki snicker, knowing that was the case.

"Y-yeah... after what happened, I can't really sleep that well." she admitted, thinking back to what she witnessed; the Fire Lord nearly killed Azula, and she hadn't recovered yet from it, which only made the head warrior feel even worse.

"Here," Iroh gestured to a cup, handing it to her, "have some of this tea. It's not the best, but I assure you, it can improve even the sourest of moods." he assured her, making the Kyoshi Warrior raise a brow; she guessed that he was referring to his nephew's own behaviour.

"That is true." she agreed, remembering how much a good cup of tea improved the Prince's mood when he first came to Kyoshi Island; she sipped from the cup, cringing slightly from the temperature, but enjoying the taste of it.

Her lips curled, breathing in and out calmly, as if she were meditating, before looking to Iroh, "What do we do next?"

"The Avatar needs our help... he needs to learn firebending before he can face my brother." he explained, Amari's brows raising in thought.

"So, we need to teach him firebending before this comet comes?" she asked, the retired general, "And what if he isn't ready?"

"I don't know what we'll do." he admitted, before looking to Suki, "How is my niece faring?"

She sighed, remembering the last time she had seen Azula, who was more or less conscious, but still unable to do much at that point; she hadn't left her bed since Zuko helped her go to the toilet the night prior, and she unsure if she could even walk yet.

"She's awake, and I don't think she's in a very good mood." she admitted, her eyes narrowing at Iroh, "I- I don't really want to ask Zuko this, so I'll ask you instead. What exactly happened to her?"

He raised a brow, looking unsure as he responded, "Sorry... I'm a little confused." he admitted, making Suki shake her head.

"Not the lightning. I'm talking about what made her... into whatever you want to call her." she clarified, making Iroh grimace.

"My niece... she has never been a nice girl." he bluntly acknowledged, making Amari snicker.

"Yeah, I'm not surprised by that one." she joked, earning a glare from her superior, who was trying to have a serious conversation with Iroh.

"B-but, yes, as I was saying, she has never been nice. My brother, he took advantage of her worst traits, and shaped her into the girl you see today. Striving for perfection, power and absolute amorality." he explained, before his face became more solemn, "According to my nephew, their mother's treatment of her led her to believe no one loved her. That was contrary to the fact, but the belief drove her to try and become the perfect heir, and I believe that, in part, led to... all of this."

"You think she betrayed Zuko because she loves him more than she does her father?" Amari queried, the retired general shaking his head.

"I don't think that, I know it. She probably hates her father now, after realising what he did to her, and how he treated Zuko." he explained, Suki sighing as she drank from her teacup; she knew what Azula said, and even if you could call her delirious at the time, it didn't make it any less the truth- she intended to kill Fire Lord Ozai, and probably in a horrific manner, at that.

"She hasn't changed who she is." the head warrior concluded, "She just decided what she actually cares about... and what she wants to destroy." her eyes darted down, Iroh looking at her with a concerned face.

"Suki, what's wrong?" he asked her, to which she shook her head, drinking from her teacup to avoid answering the question immediately.

"Nothing." she admitted, before considering what she knew; the Princess saved her life, and she needed to repay that- she wanted Ozai gone, she wanted Zuko on the throne, things they both agreed on, "Actually... I- uh- I have to talk to Zuko. I think I know what we need to do."

"Well, I hope I helped you." Iroh admitted, before tilting his head with a less than serious smile, "Did you like the tea?"

She chuckled, giving him a grin, "It was great, Iroh. You always make the best tea." she admitted, before placing the cup down on the floor beside him, exiting the bridge to leave the pair to talk amongst themselves.

She strode down the hallway back toward the room where Azula had been staying, where she expected her boyfriend to be; ever since they had gotten away from the Fire Nation Capital, he had barely left her side, only leaving to eat, drink, sleep and go to the bathroom. He had left the coordination of their airship up to the Kyoshi Warriors, who had come to treat the massive vehicle like a new dojo for them to train in; she had trained a bit in the time they had already been on-board, but had spent most of her time musing or trying to socialise with her fellow warriors.

When she reached the bedroom, she was surprised to see that Zuko wasn't there, and Azula was sitting up on her bed, her eyes immediately darting over toward Suki, "Hi..." she mumbled, before narrowing her eyes at her, "You here to see Zuzu?" she asked in clarification, the head warrior nodding as she stepped closer.

"Yeah, I am. I have... some things on my mind." she admitted, the Princess making a light snicker, before she rested herself back onto the bed.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" she asked her, the Kyoshi Warrior stepping closer, curious if she really was thinking of same thing as her.

"We have to finish we started." she declared, the Princess making the effort to nod in agreement.

"Y-yeah... that's it." Azula confirmed her suspicions, before turning her to head to the side to lean into the pillow, "Zuzu went to the bathroom... maybe to clean that mane of hair he's been growing."

"Perhaps." Suki acknowledged, raising a finger to her chin as she snickered, thinking about how she liked his hair; ever since his 'final betrayal' he had been wearing his hair down instead of in a topknot, and she had to admit that she liked his new hair style, "Thanks, Azula."

She walked out of the bedroom, leaving Azula to continue resting, while she made a quick approach to the bathroom, hoping to catch Zuko before he went off somewhere else; she wanted to discuss things with him in private, things that concerned his sister, and their father. She knew that they had been defeated down in the bunker, but that was purely bad luck it seemed, and she was sure that if given the right opportunity, she could make sure they would finally win; they needed to, because otherwise, the Fire lord would enact the very plans he set out only three days prior, where he intended to destroy the Earth Kingdom with the overwhelming power granted to firebenders by Sozin's Comet. Approaching the communal bathroom, she knocked on the door, before a few moments later, Zuko peered his head out of the doorway, wearing a robe that covered his body.

"Oh, hi." he acknowledged her presence, before eyeing around the hallway outside, "Did something happen?"

"Not exactly." she clarified, "I was thinking about... what we should do next, and I think I know what."

"Well, we're going to find the Avatar, where ever he ran off to." he acknowledged, Suki nodding in agreement; that was their current goal, but once they did that, they needed to figure out a plan.

"Yes, I know. But after that, we have two options... either let Aang deal with your father, and hopefully do so before the comet arrives, or..." she began to trail off, looking at him uneasily, hoping he got what she was trying to imply.

"Do it ourselves." he sighed, his eyes narrowing at her, "I need to get dressed, and then we can figure something out. You've got three powerful firebenders and four elite warriors by your side; together, there's a lot we can do." he declared proudly, making her smile, glad that he was as confident as ever in his ambitions.

She raised a finger, pointing it at the centre of his chest; she had so much on her mind, and knew the words to say, "First, I'd like to get you out of that robe.

"Umm..." he mumbled, feeling uncertain before she kissed him on the lips, pushing him back into the bathroom; once their embrace broke, he smiled back at her brightly, as if he was happy for the first time that day, "I'd like that." he told her, before she placed a finger over his mouth, thinking of what to say in return; truly, she was more thankful for his smile than he would ever know.

"Thank you, for everything."


	51. The Western Air Temple

_Looking out on the balcony at the Western Air Temple, Zuko sighed, knowing that he needed to find the Avatar, even though he had no idea where he would be; he was only at the first of four Air Temples, but he had a feeling that there was going to be no Avatar at any of them. The Western Air Temple was completely abandoned, and the ruins indicated to him that the last people to stand where he did were the Fire Nation survivors of the attacks that destroyed the Air Nation; he didn't know the exact details, but he assumed that it was quite a gruesome experience._

_The Fire Nation won against their enemy, and they were destroyed, as were the way things went with their war of progress; Zuko didn't know why the Air Temples were attacked other than to find the next airbending Avatar, which was the exact reason he returned to the scene of the slaughter. The place was quiet, and he didn't see many bodies, which disturbed him more than the thought of seeing the skeletons of a bunch of dead monks; the fact there was no bodies indicated to him that the Fire Nation forces either cremated the corpses of their opponents, or disposed of them in a far less honourable way._

_His uncle was walking back into the temple, where he assumed he was going look at the various relics left behind by the inhabitants of the place; Zuko didn't care for the relics himself, knowing that unless they were essential to his quest in finding the Avatar, it was essentially desecration of the homes of long dead Air Nomad monks. He turned his heels away from the balcony, heading back into the temple to go find his uncle, knowing that they weren't likely to find anything of note other than perhaps the bodies he hadn't bore witness to as of yet._

_When he finally made sight of his uncle sitting by a table inside what looked to be an old hall, he smiled up at Zuko, almost poignantly, "Nephew, did you want to do anything else? The men are still searching down through the temple, as you requested." he reminded him, the Prince sighing, knowing that their efforts were going to be fruitless with the temple long abandoned._

_"I don't care." he admitted, "Unless you find some airbending scrolls that might help us understand the bending art itself, I don't have any care for... any of this."_

_"Is something wrong, Prince Zuko?" he asked him, the Prince shaking his head, not wanting a repeat of the conversation they had had a few minutes earlier; his uncle wanted him to rest, and he wanted to search, but in arriving at the first of the Air Temples, he came to realise that his quest would take him longer than he might want- the Air Temples had been abandoned for a century, and the rest of the world was so massive, filled with so many placed a hundred year old Avatar could hide._

_"No. We just need to finish up. If there's nothing here to suggest the Avatar has been here, then we ought to leave." he declared, the retired general grimacing slightly, before nodding with understanding eyes, as if he saw through his words, and understood that he was simply too frustrated to have to deal with scouring the temple._

_"That is fair, Prince Zuko." he acknowledged, before standing up from the table, looking down its length, "To think that no one has sat and eaten here for a hundred years..."_

_"That is why we are here, Uncle." he retorted, "The Avatar escaped, and all the Air Nomads died. To think the coward has been hiding for a hundred years is disgusting; you would think at the very least he would try and avenge his people."_

_"The Air Nomads were pacifists, nephew. I'm unsure that even if he wanted to, the Avatar wouldn't take revenge on the Fire Nation." he told him the truth of the matter, making him sigh, knowing that his uncle had a point._

_"Then perhaps Fire Lord Sozin had a stroke of luck." he raised a brow, "If the Avatar had actually died with his people, then a Water Tribe Avatar would have arisen to oppose the Fire Nation, and I am sure that they are not pacifists in any sense of the word."_

_"They live a tough life, nephew, especially in the South Pole. I am sure that if the Avatar had been reborn there, the Southern Raiders would have captured them." he admitted with an almost sad tone, as if he was sympathising with the plight of the enemies of the Fire Nation._

_"The irony." he sighed, placing a hand over his face, "If the Avatar was to never return, no one would stand a chance against the Fire Nation, and we would finally be victorious, and the Four Nations would become one." he acknowledged the fact of the matter, before his single eye turned to his uncle, "But, I have to go find him, and I might perhaps force him to return to the world and face the Fire Nation." he admitted, before he turned away from Iroh, who was looking back at him with slight concern._

_"Your mission, nephew. It is something that will change... everything, when you find him." he conceded, the banished prince stepping back away from his uncle._

_"I will have to be strong enough to stop him. We cannot lose, not now. Not after all those years of war, not after everything the Fire Nation has lost in trying to better the world." he declared, before eyeing his uncle; he wanted to say something, but he knew he couldn't._

_It was something his sister had told him before, and it rang true in his mind at that moment; their uncle had been a coward for not avenging their cousin's death, and he probably would spend every day left he had alive regretting his actions._

_The image of his cousin Lu Ten appeared in his mind, and his uncle likely thought of the same thing; his face was saddened, and Zuko felt a tinge of guilt for bringing up what he did, "Yes. That is the will of the Fire Lord." Iroh acknowledged, before he walked up to his nephew, "But, we are not fighting in a war, nephew. We are simply looking for a single man." making the Prince narrow his uncovered eye with determination._

_"That man will determine the outcome of this war. We need to find him."_

* * *

Wiping the sleep from her eyes, Azula blinked for a few moments, realising that it was morning, light from outside the airship beaming through the windows that lined the hallway nearby her bed; she had overslept far past the sunrise that most firebenders would awaken at, having gone to the toilet after Zuko forced her to eat something, before falling asleep, not having the energy or will to continue to remain awake. She turned her head to look out the window, her eyes widening as she realised that they were not in the air anymore, but in fact had landed somewhere; it was a lightly wooded area, and she could see a cliff-face further in the distance.

She was still in a serious amount of pain, but the stinging had died down, leaving her with more pain on her entry wounds and chest, where the lightning had festered for a few moments; she pulled up the tunic she had been wearing, having been stripped of her armour at some point when she was unconscious, looking at the bandages that covered her torso. Looking at what wasn't bandaged, she could see the burns that had appeared on her skin, although they were light, comparable to what she would receive from an ordinary spar with Zuko; although she could feel where the real injuries had occurred, within her body- her guts felt like they were on fire, a bit like when someone threw up their dinner, the pain of bile coursing through one's throat, except it was centred around her abdomen.

"Fuck this." she mumbled under her breath, knowing that the injuries she had endured were worse than any burns she had endured from her years of firebending training.

She sighed, lying herself back, hoping that she would be healed, sooner rather than later; she despised the state she was in, unable to do anything but sleep, and tend to her most basic needs. She could talk, but her mind wasn't exactly in the right way; she had spent a lot of time thinking- about her father, the Fire Nation, and what her brother intended to do. She knew that her hatred for the man she had once spent every breathing moment trying to please was festering worse than her injuries were; Azula didn't know what she would do when she saw her father again, but she was sure he would regret not killing her.

"I'm going to finish this." she declared to herself, before she leant up, hearing the sound of footsteps nearby; a moment later, she saw Suki standing by the doorway, with a face of surprise.

"Oh, you're up. Are you feeling any better?" she asked the Princess with a sympathetic face; she hadn't considered it before, but she realised that the Kyoshi Warrior probably felt some guilt herself for what happened to her, even if it was her own father, the Fire Lord, who dealt the blow.

"U-um... I don't feel pain everywhere in my body... so yes." she admitted, even if she didn't feel any better; her pain had subdued, but the pain was eagerly replaced with the frustration and anger that dominated her mind- the fog had cleared, and a fiery rage had replaced it, "Where are we?" she asked a question, trying to distract herself from her emotions.

Suki's eyes turned back toward the window before she faced the Princess with a warm smile, "We're at the Western Air Temple. The Avatar and his friends caught up with us last night and led us here."

"Oh..." she mumbled before furrowing a brow, "So, is the water peasant going to heal me, or what? I'm not exactly in the best condition." she gestured to herself, before trying to pull herself up to her feet, "I'll go and find her if I have to. I'm not spending another day in bed." she grumbled, the Kyoshi Warrior walking over to her and placing a hand on her shoulder, gently pushing her back down onto the bed.

"I wouldn't try walking right now. I'll go get Katara... and please don't call her 'water peasant' to her face. You already call me and my friends dirt peasants, and I have had to try and stop Amari from coming in here and berating you about that." she explained, making the Princess snicker, her lips curling with confidence.

"Oh, I'd love to see her try. I don't really care for the words of a halfwit." she assured her, making the Kyoshi Warrior narrow her eyes at her with disdain, before she sighed.

"Do you really want someone to try and beat you up when you can't fight back?" she questioned her, Azula raising a finger, which despite making her whole arm sting, did so just to make her response all the more smug.

"That's a bold assumption of you to make." she told her, the Kyoshi Warrior chuckling at her confidence.

"Good luck with that." she rolled her eyes before stepping away from the bed, "I need to go get Katara. She's just talking with the others... Avatar saving the world business, that kind of stuff." she explained herself, the Princess nodding with a slight snicker, considering that she was to be assisting the Avatar and his friends in their goals, considering she had done that very thing when she first met them, although not for altruistic reasons.

"Of course, they are." she acknowledged, "I'll just wait."

Suki quickly paced out of room, leaving the Princess by her lonesome; she turned her eyes to her forearms, which she had noticed to have slight burns covering them, dots of pinkish skin marking where the lightning had entered and exited her body. She knew that she had been lucky to survive the lightning bolt that struck her, but her luck wasn't as good as it could have been; she guessed that the technique she used wasn't meant to cause such grievous injuries, and seeing that her uncle was well and truly alive, she understood she needed to perfect the technique before she tried to face her father again. She scanned along her arm, looking at the burns as they faded away, until she reached her shoulders, which were covered with fabric, and whatever burns she had below masked and unseen.

Suddenly, she was taken from her thoughts by a voice she hadn't heard for some time, "Azula." Katara addressed her, the Princess's eyes looking up at the Water Tribe girl, whose own eyes narrowed on her suspiciously; she couldn't blame her for feeling as such, seeing that she likely was going to capture, if not kill the Avatar back in Ba Sing Se if it had not been for her brother's swift intervention, "I see that you're conscious."

"For better or for worse." she admitted, before narrowing her eyes at her, "So, are you doing this at your own free will... or did your do-gooder friends force you to do so?"

The Water Tribe teen stepped closer, before she examined her injuries, "I chose to do this." she told her, almost as if to defy her own antagonistic behaviour, "As much as I despise you," she added, before looking at her solemnly, "you went against the Fire Lord, and nearly died because of it. You chose the side of good, not that of..."

"World domination?" she asked, wondering if that was a succinct end to Katara's self-justification for helping her former enemy.

"Uh, yes." she confirmed, before shaking her head, looking back down at her injuries, "Now, can I have a look at your injuries, I can't exactly heal you without knowing what's wrong?" she asked of the Princess, who begrudgingly pulled her tunic up, letting Katara examine her abdomen, which had received the brunt of the burning.

The Water Tribe teen knelt down beside the bed, bending a small bit of water from her water-skin, before spreading it over her abdomen, the water glowing slightly as she bent it around, closing her eyes as she did so, "Th-this is far worse than what happened to Aang." she admitted immediately, the Princess snickering.

"That's because my father is far more powerful and determined to kill than my brother." she acknowledged the truth as she saw it, making the healer grimace before she continued along.

"This may sting a little. You've got a lot of serious burns throughout your body, but they seem to be centred here." she explained, the Princess forcing out a nod.

"Do it. I need to get out of this bed." she declared, the Water Tribe girl obliging, beginning to use her bending to heal her injuries; the pain she felt increased sharply, making her muffle a scream, covering her mouth with her hands to try and stop herself.

"Oh- I didn't mean to-" the healer began to apologise, only to be cut off by the Princess, who knew that any pain she endured would be worth the reward.

"Keep going, please. I have to do this." Azula requested, hoping that she wouldn't relent just because she was in pain; she was going to still hurt without the healing, so she was more than willing to tolerate pain to overcome pain itself.

Katara continued to heal her injuries, making her squirm slightly as the pain intensified as she went over each area of her abdomen; her hands moved up her body, slowly, making sure to cleanse her of her burns, which to her luck, began to feel a lot less painful as soon as she went over them, even if the initial pain was quite intense. She grasped on the sheets below her, before the healer tapped on one of her hands.

"I should heal your arms as well." she explained, forcing a nod out of the Princess, who obliged, raising her left arm first for the waterbender's hands to move over, slowly and carefully going down the length of her arm, making her relieve the feelings of the injury, the lightning flowing through her body; although it was an extremely painful experience, that much power coursing through her body gave her a feeling unlike any other, but as soon as it left her body, she was in pain beyond words.

She moved to her right arm, and the same feelings came to her, though however brief, they made her physically glimpse back at the moment her father struck her, Azula grimacing in fear of what had happened; the memory of her nearly dying was something that she didn't want to keep in her mind, but rather use to her advantage, to fuel her firebending in her next, practically inevitable encounter with her father.

Katara stood up, although she was still leaning down toward her, with an uneasy face, "Did that help?" she asked her, the Princess nodding in confirmation, just glad that she didn't have to deal with the constant pain; it still hurt, and she assumed she would find it hard to firebend, train or even walk at that point, although she didn't dare try, not until she felt confident enough to do so.

"Yes it did. Waterbending is somewhat useful after all, it seems." she admitted, much to the surprise of the Water Tribe girl.

"Uh- thanks, I guess." she accepted her rather unusual compliment, although the princess didn't necessarily know how to give a compliment; she wasn't going to be nice to her just because she healed her, because at that moment, that's all she was to her- someone who had helped her overcome her pain.

"Now..." she mumbled before rising from the bed, finally able to do so without cringing from acute pain, "Now I can do what I need to do."

"Wh-what's that, exactly?" Katara asked her with a fearful voice; although the circumstances contradicted such a fear, the girl might have believed Azula intended to betray her then and there and go fight the Avatar.

"To speak to the Avatar. I am going to help him defeat my father, am I not?" she questioned her, earning a surprised but suspicious look from the Water Tribe teen, who stepped out of her way.

"Y-yeah, that's what I'd expect. He did try to kill you." she conceded, although she sounded as if she didn't believe her own words; she didn't witness it, after all, but it was the reality of the situation.

She began to walk toward the door, before her eyes glanced back at the Princess, looking more serious and determined than she had before, "Aang is outside talking to Zuko and the others."

She nodded without a word, the Water Tribe girl leaving the Princess alone, as she slowly tried to drop her feet down onto the ground below her; she hadn't stood up on her on since her father shot her with lightning, and the moment her legs straightened, pulling her up from the bed, she immediately felt a sense of strength in her soul. With her body no longer limiting her, Azula was free to do as she pleased; the thought of immediately challenging her brother to a spar came to mind, but she knew that despite Katara's skilful use of healing, she was no where near capable of using her bending in combat, if at all. She began to take steps, slowly, foot by foot, as she moved toward the doorway that stood only a few strides from her bed; each time her legs moved made her feel more invigorated- she felt as if she could move into a firebending form and kick a stream of flames out. Reaching the doorway, she clasped her hands on it, looking out the window, narrowing her eyes at her brother standing next to Aang, Sokka and Toph, who he was talking to, rather eagerly at that; as she walked along the windowed hallway, she eyed her brother, who was soon greeted by Katara, who had probably gone to inform the group that she had indeed been healed. Although she could still feel the same pains in her legs as she moved them along, in comparison to how she felt before she had been touched by the girl's waterbending, she was in no pain at all. By the time she reached the door to exit the airship, she was immediately greeted by her brother, whose eyes were wide and mouth open wide with surprise and unexpected joy; she hadn't seen Zuko that ecstatic ever, not in her fourteen years of life.

"Zula!" he shouted out her name, pulling her in for a hug, making Azula feel as if she were being crushed by his embrace; he reeled back slightly, looking at her brightly, "Y-you're alright. I'm so glad it worked." he admitted, the Princess shrugging.

"A few stings here and there, but I'm alive, Zuzu. That's what counts." she declared, before he turned around, the grin on his face not yielding, "You came out to talk to them, right?"

"Yep. I need to teach these peasants a few lessons." she told him, making him chuckle lightly.

"Thank the spirits there's no turtle-duck ponds for people to be kicked into." he joked, making her raise a brow, knowing that her brother wasn't one who usually joked.

"You're very... chirpy, Zuzu." she took note of his mood, to which she shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm in a good mood. By getting better, you made it a great mood." he explained himself as they walked up toward the Avatar and his friends, who were surprised by her appearance, bar Katara, who still seemed rather uneasy in her presence.

"Uh, hi." the Avatar greeted her, "I don't think we've properly talked since... uh- that village?"

The Princess nodded, before musing back to that fight, "Oh, yes. That was quite the fight." she reminisced, "My merciful streak had gotten the better of me." she acknowledged, earning some uneasy looks from the group; she realised after a few moments of silence that she had made the same mistake talking to them as she did when talking to Chan- her social incompetence had gotten the better of her.

"Uh, Zula." she heard her brother address her, the Princess raising a finger to shut him up, trying her best to maintain a visage of confidence.

"I do realise that was an unusual thing to say. We are all meant to be allies here, I am not your enemy." she explained to them, the Water Tribe boy snickering, making her raise a brow, "What's funny about that, Sokka?"

He looked up at her with a rather smug look on his face, "Well, I feel like we've just gone full circle. You helped us, then you hunted us, and then you've come back to help us again."

"Uh... when you say it like that, it makes it sound like she's going to betray us." Aang acknowledged his rather unusual interpretation of her behaviour.

"That's not what I meant." Sokka tried to explain himself, before she spoke over him.

"I am not going to betray you. What logic would there be in that?" she asked them, Toph stepping forward.

"The kooky princess has a point." she told the group, "I trust anyone who took a lightning bolt fighting against the Fire Lord."

She raised a brow, "Did you just call me 'kooky'?" she asked with a rather aggravated tone, the short earthbender nodding.

"You shoot lightning, try to hunt us down as a distraction, and then you for whatever reason decided to join us, after thoroughly kicking our butts in Ba Sing Se." she explained to the Princess, who found her words to be more a compliment than the single word 'kooky' could ever insult her.

"Oh, you flatter me." she placed a hand to her chest, making Toph nod once more with a smile of confidence, as if she had just been proven right.

"Yep, kooky." she declared, Aang placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Maybe you shouldn't try and stir up our new friends. I'm sure saying stuff like that isn't going to help Azula like us."

"Quite to the contrary, Aang." Azula raised a finger, approaching the short and quick-tongued earthbender, "This tells me we're going to be good friends, wouldn't you say so dirt-mouth?"

Toph twitched momentarily from her insulting name before curling her lips, "Sure!" she offered a hand to shake, which she accepted; what she didn't expect was a the tough grip she gave in the shake.

"You have quite the grip." the Princess acknowledged, the group laughing.

"We've never fought one-on-one, have we?" she asked her, making Azula curl her lips.

"Oh, now that's an idea." she considered her idea; Toph would be a worthy sparring partner for someone as powerful as herself.

"Zula, you just got out of bed. Can you even bend correctly?" her brother asked her with a fearful and concerned tone; she curled her lips, thinking back to what she had to power her bending.

She turned around and raised a fist into the air, sending a massive blue stream of flames into the air, making the whole group look up in awe, "I can." she confidently declared, before dropping her arm, not acknowledging the fact it made her arm painfully sting as she did it.

"How?!" her brother exclaimed, absolutely amazed that she was able to pull off such power after her injuries.

"How, brother?" she put his question back to him, before she turned to face the Avatar's group.

"Nothing powers firebending like pure hatred. I'm sure you would agree." she declared, her brother cringing at her words.

"Well... I mean it is a way to firebend..." he admitted, making Azula raise a brow a him.

"Wait- so how have you been powering your firebending?" she asked him, the Prince looking back toward the airship, where she assumed his girlfriend was.

"With something stronger than hate."

* * *

"So... you're telling me that you already know the true nature of firebending?"

Zuko chuckled at his uncle's words, while Aang looked on with awe, obviously surprised that there was more to firebending than fuelling it through ones rage, which was how most firebenders, his father and sister included, powered their bending.

"I mean... I don't understand it, but I feel it." he explained himself, Iroh sitting down, indicating for them to do the same.

"Please, I'd like to hear your story before I go to mine." he suggested, the Prince sighing, remembering back to the first time he powered his bending through something that wasn't rage.

"Back when Azula came to the camp... you remember that, don't you, Uncle?" he asked him, to which he nodded, "I thought she might have come to capture us, or harm our friends. When Ty Lee chi blocked Suki, I became afraid; I didn't want her, you, the Kyoshi Warriors, or any of those refugees to get hurt." he explained before looking up, "I powered my firebending through my desire to protect those closest to me."

"Through love?" Aang asked in clarification, the Prince nodding.

"Yeah, pretty much. I thought it was a bit of mix though, where my childhood anger against Azula was helping me too, but I confirmed it about two months later... when I shot a lightning bolt through a Fire Nation soldier."

"I remember." Iroh acknowledged, "So that was when it changed for you... your firebending wasn't powered by anger, but by love."

"Yeah." he acknowledged, before his eyes narrowed, remembering another time he had been drawn to hatred, "I was tempted to fall back to spite and hatred, back when I returned to the Fire Nation, when I first faced the Fire Lord once again, but I decided against it. I couldn't do that, not after all I had been through." he admitted, Aang placing a hand on his shoulder with a bright smile.

"I can really respect that, Zuko. The monks used to say revenge is like a two-headed rat viper. While you watch yourself go down, you're being poisoned yourself." he explained his own beliefs in metaphor, making the Prince curl his lips into a small smile.

"Y-yeah, once I would have thought something like that was stupid... but I see that revenge, it's futile. I don't want to be my father, I want to be better." he admitted, his uncle giving him a little clap.

"Prince Zuko, you have grown much these past few months. I am just glad you chose a better path than the one set out for you."

"Me too. I preferred not getting roasted in Ba Sing Se." the Avatar gave him an awkward smile, making the Prince cringe.

"Uh, yeah... sorry about that. I was more afraid of Azula than actually thinking how you might feel about getting zapped." he admitted, before his eyes turned to his uncle, "So, Uncle, what is the true nature of firebending?"

"Well, it is just like you said, love and passion, they can drive your firebending better than spite and anger can." he explained before scratching at his beard, "I think its best if I show the two of you something... and Azula, too. I feel that she might benefit from seeing another side to firebending."

"Are we going on a field trip?" Aang asked him, making the retired general chuckle.

"Yes, something like that." he acknowledged, before looking around, "But if your sister is to come with us, Zuko, perhaps we should wait a day."

He nodded, understanding that his sister needed to heal, and he did want her to come with them; whatever might help her better understand firebending would most certainly help her, seeing how core her bending was to her sense of self. He

"Yeah, I think so. What are we going to do in the meantime?" Zuko asked his uncle, Aang leaning his head in between them.

"How about you guys teach me some basics. I'm sure it'll help me get the hang of it."

"Ahem..." the Prince cleared his throat, before curling his lips, remembering the one thing he hated most about his banishment when it came to his uncle's training, "Breathing exercises?"

"That would be a good start, although I'm guessing that as an airbender, you already know how to breath quite well, Aang." he acknowledged, before raising a brow, "Actually, you'll be well tuned to my training. Meditation and breathing are the core shaping any good firebender." he raised a finger, the Avatar's face brightening with surprise.

"Huh, that's easier than I thought it would be. So no gruelling training?" he asked, making Zuko chuckle, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Oh, we'll get to that part. If you want to stand a chance against my father, you'll need endurance; if you can't evade, then you need to able to take a punch." he explained, Aang rising to his feet.

"I can take a punch. I thank Sifu Toph for that one." he smiled at them confidently, imitating an earthbending form that Toph must have taught him.

As if on cue, she called out, throwing a boulder at the Avatar, who split it in half as it came to strike him, "Yes, all thank I, Toph Beifong, the greatest earthbender in the world!" she cackled, making Iroh and Zuko snicker as Aang reeled from the unexpected attack.

"Not funny, Toph." he grilled her, the retired general patting him on the shoulder.

"I mean, it is kinda funny." he suggested, forcing the Avatar to sigh and nod.

"Yeah, it is a little." before he turned around, looking toward the balcony of the temple, "So, are you two going to show me how to breathe like a firebender?" he asked them, the Prince tapping his uncle on the shoulder.

"I'm sure Uncle can handle that." he deflected responsibility, Iroh looking back at him suspiciously.

"Nephew, I'm sure you can help." he told him, to which the Prince simply began to step back.

"Well, I could, but also, I'd like to spend some time with my girlfriend today, so... have fun." he waved to the pair, Aang waving back at him brightly.

"See ya!" he called out, as Zuko began to walk on through the temple away from them, momentarily walking by the Avatar's other friends, who were all lazing about.

"Hey, where you going, Zuko?" he heard Sokka call out, the Prince turning abck to face him.

"Uh- to find Suki." he explained himself simply, the Water Tribe teen standing up.

"I think she and the other Kyoshi Warriors are training up in one of the courtyards." he told him, before raising a brow, "Mind if I join you?"

The Prince shrugged, not really caring if Sokka wanted to join in training with the warriors on not, "Uh, yeah, feel free to join in training. I'm sure the Warriors would appreciate another sparring partner."

"I've gotten a lot better since I first trained with them." he declared confidently, tapping on the hilt of his jian, "I've got a sword now."

He titled his head, gesturing for the Water Tribe boy to follow, which he did; as they made their way up along a staircase toward the upper courtyards, Zuko raised a brow at him, curious as to how he even got his weapon to begin with.

"Huh, where did you get a jian from anyway?" he asked, to which Sokka smirked confidently, seeming proud of it.

"I forged it myself with Master Piandao, from a meteorite." he explained, the Prince's eyes widening; he trained with Piandao himself, although that was when he was only eleven years old, many years before the Water Tribe teen had ever met him.

"Huh, Master Piandao. I trained with him too." he commented, the Water Tribe teen's eyes brightening with recognition.

"Oh, that explains how you were so good. I didn't think anybody could just be that good a swordsman without a good master." he acknowledged, the Prince chuckling, remembering all the training he did with the Kyoshi Warriors, which had inadvertently improved his skill above and beyond what he had initially learnt with his master.

"It takes a lot of effort and training to become a master of the sword." he declared, before curling his lips, "Maybe you'd like to learn some more?"

"Oh..." Sokka's eyes widened, before he offered him a handshake, "That sounds like a deal."

"Trust me, I'm no pushover, Sokka, even without my bending." he told him with a confident tone that he usually only gave to his sister when he wanted to spar her; the Water Tribe boy seemed to be further enticed by the challenge, increasing his pace as they wound up the staircase up toward the courtyard.

When they reached the courtyard, Zuko made sight of Suki leading the Kyoshi Warriors in practising some moves; she was distracted by their sets for a moment, before she curled her lips, making sight of the Prince, "Oh, did you come to join us?"

The warriors broke their forms, looking at the two of them as they approached, "Does this mean we get to kick Sokka's butt again, boss?" Amari asked, the group looking amongst themselves with confident faces, feeling that they would enjoy some sparring.

"Perhaps." Suki considered, before turning to face the Water Tribe teen, "How would you like that, Water Tribe?" she asked him, to which he drew out his jian sword.

"I'm ready." he declared, the Prince rolling his eyes, stepping back for a moment.

"This is going to be funny." he mumbled to himself as Sokka approached his girlfriend, both of them taking stances.

The Water Tribe teen raced forward first, using a jab of his sword to make the Kyoshi Warrior evade, before she used her fan to catch the weapon; she thrust a fan into his chest, forcing him back, before he spun his sword around, tripping her off her feet. When Zuko thought she might fall flat on her face, she instead used the fall to strike Sokka in the shin, making him yelp with pain while he fell back onto his behind; he raised his sword, swinging it try and force her back, but instead, Suki drew out her katana. The look on the Water Tribe warrior's face indicated that he had forgot the Kyoshi Warriors used swords in the first place; the two of their swords clashed, each of the blocking and parrying each others strikes, before Sokka had the chance to disarm her of her blade. That didn't help him when she used a fan to jab him in the sternum before pulling out another fan to trip him right off his feet.

"You've improved a lot, Sokka, but you're not good enough." she chided him, making him turn his eyes to Zuko with a grimace.

"If she's that good, how am I going to be able to beat you?" he asked him rhetorically, making the Prince smirk confidently.

"That's a good question. I'll let you muse on it for a bit before you try and defeat the Blue Spirit."

* * *

"Now, I know some of you have already enjoyed my tea, but I assure you, I make it with love and care."

Suki chuckled at Iroh's assurances, knowing that they weren't necessary; his tea was undeniably great, and the eager response coming Toph, told her that those who hadn't knew that.

"I've been looking forward to this!" she exclaimed, "Bring out the tea!"

Iroh began to pour each of them tea, which took some time, seeing that there thirteen people sitting around the campfire where they were being served; when she got her teacup, she smelt the fragrant liquid and smiled, glad that they were finishing their day with a nice cup of tea.

Amari, who was sitting beside her, beamed brightly as she received her own cup, "Oh, I've missed this."

The head warrior chuckled, patting her friend on the shoulder, "I have too. I think we all just need a little time to relax."

"I've been relaxing too much." Azula acknowledged, before her brother and Katara simultaneously shook their heads.

"No- no, you need to rest. You can't just get up and train after being shot with lightning." Zuko warned her, the Water Tribe girl furthering his advice.

"Yes, you're still recovering. I really think you need to rest for a day or two more before you can consider anything lime that." she warned, the Princess crossing her arms with frustration.

"Whatever." she mumbled, before she returned to drinking her tea.

"Looks like someone's in a bad mood." Amari whispered into Suki's ear, making her roll her eyes.

"You be quiet. Just drink the tea you always drone on about." she suggested, the other Kyoshi Warrior quietening down.

She turned back to face Zuko, who was sitting beside her, "So, how did Aang's firebending training go?"

"Good as you'd expect. He's a bit averse to it all, kept talking about how he burned Katara by accident." he admitted, before looking at her hopefully, "I think he'll be able to learn quickly. We don't have much time."

"It's only a few weeks away now isn't it?" she asked him, earning some uneasy looks from the group across from them, especially the Avatar himself.

"Y-yeah... the comet." he mumbled, "I'm sure we'll be ready by then. I can whip out the Avatar State and show the Fire Lord who's boss."

"I'm looking forward to seeing that." Sokka declared, Azula smirking with agreement.

"As am I." he added, although perhaps for slightly less altruistic reasons than the Water Tribe teen.

"Me too." Toph raised a hand, clenching a fist, "I'm ready to see all my training be put to use."

"I'm unsure annoying him to death with pebbles will be any good." the princess quipped, making Zuko tense up as he looked her way.

"Do I really have to reprimand you about the jokes again?" he asked his sister, who leaned back casually, dismissing her words.

"I'm sure she meant nothing by it." Suki placed a hand on his shoulder, making Azula smirk even more confidently.

"No. That wasn't a joke. Lightning-bending powered up by Sozin's Comet will be nigh unstoppable... waterbending is probably the only thing that could work against that." she explained, making Katara gasp with shock.

"Are you saying you want Aang to electrocute him to death?" she asked, the Princess shrugging.

"I'm just appreciating ironic ways to defeat your enemies." before she cleared her throat, mumbling a name that most of them probably knew, "Ahem, Zhao."

"Trickery is the best weapon you can have against enemies like that." Amari piped up, "Isn't that right, boss?"

"Well, I don't expect to face the Fire Lord, but if I was going to, uh yeah. That'd make sense." she admitted, making Haru look at the group with confusion.

"We're not all just going to talk about how we'd beat the Fire Lord ourselves, are we?"

"That's a pretty good idea." Toph piped up, making Iroh raise a finger.

"Well... you can discuss that, although I'm unsure if everyone here would be comfortable talking about it." he suggested, eyeing both his niece and the Avatar.

The former rolled her eyes, "I'm comfortable with talking about how to best destroy my father, trust me."

"Well, I'm not." Aang acknowledged, standing up and walking away, the Princess earning a steely glare from Katara.

"Thanks a lot." she chided her, before getting up to follow him.

"Yeah... that was not the best thing to talk about, Zula." Zuko acknowledged, before placing his empty tea cup down, turning to face his girlfriend, "Um... so that was a bit of talk."

"It was." she admitted, "Are you getting tired, or is it just me?" she asked him, indicating that she thought they best leave the campfire.

"Oh, well... I guess." he acknowledged, before turning to face his uncle, "Hey, Uncle. I'm heading back up to the airship. Can you watch Azula?"

"I don't need to be watched." his sister crossed her arms, rather offended by his words.

"I'm not saying you're unsafe, but you're a bit quick to fight... and I don't want you hurting our new friends." he suggested, Toph rising up from her seat.

"I'll beat her royal highness any day of the week." she declared confidently, making Zuko roll his eyes.

"Please. You can spar another day." he suggested, before waving to the rest of the group, "Take care, everyone."

He got some waves from the rest of the group, before he turned his heels, getting some looks from the Kyoshi Warriors, who knew he was leaving with Suki alone, which could only mean one thing to them. She didn't care about what they thought, knowing what she and her boyfriend did together was none of their concern; she felt a little colder as they walked away from the campfire, moving closer to Zuko, who instinctively put an arm around her.

"Well, I think that could have gone better." he admitted, making her chuckle.

"At least they trust your sister. It could be worse if she was a deal-breaker for us working together." she acknowledged, the Prince nodding along.

"That's true. She has sacrificed enough to earn their trust, I think." he admitted, before turning to look at her, "That's what I had to do to earn your trust, wasn't it?" he asked her, the Kyoshi Warrior chuckling.

"You're thinking Amari. I just wanted the truth, which I got eventually, didn't I?" she asked him suggestively, making him laugh.

"Yeah, you did. You got the real Zuko."

"The big softy." she jested, making him cross his arms.

"I'm not a softy." he declared, making her lean in and kiss him on the cheek.

"You're great, Zuko. Don't ever forget that."


	52. The Firebending Masters

_Walking toward his uncle, Zuko still had his fists clenched tightly, refusing to look back at the man he had just scarred; he knew Zhao deserved the punishment that he had been dealt down to him, because he wouldn't have come to fight in Agni Kai otherwise. It brought back memories the Prince would rather not like to address, but even then, he didn't deny that he relished in his victory; it was not because he desired to see the Commander suffer, but because he was free- he had liberated himself from a meagre but acknowledgeable dishonour that he had suffered. His mind wanted to turn to the greatest dishonour he had received, and he immediately turned his thoughts away from it; he was victorious, he did not want to wallow in considering the rights and wrongs of what had happened that day._

_"Nephew... you did it." Iroh acknowledged with a slightly uneasy face, "You treated him fairly, my nephew. Even if it was cruel to burn his face, he did not accept your mercy."_

_"He didn't." Zuko agreed, before turning back to look at Zhao's unconscious body for a moment, "And now he will bear the mark of dishonour that I do, because of his arrogance." he explained, before the two of them began to walk on away from the Agni Kai grounds, back toward their ship, which was docked in the nearby port._

_"You have chosen your own path, nephew." his uncle acknowledged, before narrowing his eyes at him, "How does it feel?"_

_"I feel... lighter." he admitted, "Like a weight has been lifted from me. Stronger... in my soul, not in my body."_

_"I see..." Iroh raised a hand to strum his goatee, "That is interesting; what will we do now?" he asked his nephew._

_"Leave this port, and set sail." he simply acknowledged, "My quest will continue, as it has to."_

_His uncle nodded, giving him a slightly uneasy smile, "That is understandable."_

_He didn't want to question why his uncle didn't want him to continue his quest; perhaps he thought that it was pointless, which he knew to be a valid judgement. There was a worse fear that he held- that his uncle truly intended to say that the Avatar was not his enemy; if the master of the elements was not his enemy, then who was? The banished prince did not have any enemies he could speak of, bar the man he had just duelled. He considered for a moment that the only person who had truly harmed him was his own father, but he immediately dismissed that treasonous thought; as much as he wanted to redeem himself, that idea kept ringing in his head._

_"What do you think father will think of this?" he decided to ask his uncle, who looked uneasily at him as they continued to walk on down toward the port._

_"I don't know, nephew. Your father is not an easy man to please." he sighed, before looking away from Zuko, "If you did this to please him, then-" he began to warn, before the Prince cut him off._

_"No. I did it for myself. Not for father. Not for Azula. Not even for you." he declared, "But Uncle, I still feel the rage boiling in my heart... I don't know if even this will give me the inch of satisfaction I desire."_

_The retired general looked back at him poignantly, "Violence begets violence, my nephew, not peace."_

_"Did you get that little proverb from an Air Nomad?" he mockingly questioned his uncle, who raised a brow._

_"As a matter of fact, yes." he acknowledged, "I found it in one of the scrolls we recovered at the Southern Air Temple."_

_"I don't believe in such stupid ideas." he declared confidently, "Even if it's true, I'm the one who is victorious, not that snake Zhao."_

_"You have won today, nephew. But that may not always be the case; when you lose, what will you say then?" he asked him, as to rhetorically imply that he would believe in the futility of his own actions._

_"I will not lose again. I am sure of that." he refused to accept his presumption._

_"Why is that nephew?" he asked him, almost sounding curious as to how Zuko could be so confident in himself; he usually didn't feel so strongly self-assured, but after his victory, he was sure that he wouldn't lose again._

_"Because..." he raised a finger, "I never give up without a fight."_

_Iroh looked at him with respect, giving him a smile, "I am proud of you, Zuko. Even if you don't believe it. You are your own man, and that is what makes you better than me when I was your age."_

_"Wh-what is that supposed to mean?" he asked his uncle, who looked forward toward the dying sun as it dropped below the horizon, which a the flat line splitting the sea from the sky._

_"I was a good heir... actually, when I think about it, Azula and I are more alike that you might first believe." he admitted, before turning his eyes to his nephew, seeming rather saddened, "I was blinded by my loyalty to my nation and desire to please my father, Fire Lord Azulon... and I didn't see who I had become."_

_"You're a good man, Uncle. I doubt-" he began to assure his uncle, the retired general shaking his head, placing a hand on his shoulder._

_"There is a reason why every Fire Nation knows of the Dragon of the West." he admitted, "My victories in the war made in a hero in the eyes of the people, and I relished in the glory, the recognition, and I was blinded by my own ego." his eyes turned to the water once more, before he clenched a fist, seeming distraught with his thoughts, "I will not deny it, I am the reason my son is dead. Because I was blinded by pride- you can see, Prince Zuko, that is what makes you better than me."_

_"How did you change, Uncle?" he asked him, "Why are you like you are?" wanting to know the truth of the matter, even it wasn't revealed at the moment._

_"I became aware, I became my own man, stepping out of my father's shadow." he explained himself, before his eyes narrowed, looking somewhat disturbed, "It wasn't that hard... seeing that he was dead. But that is beside the point."_

_"I am not like you, Uncle." he shook his head, "I can't just... give up my duties."_

_"I know." Iroh acknowledged, before scratching on his goatee, "But you can aspire to be your best self."_

_Zuko continued to walk on beside his uncle, his head dropping down, feeling ashamed for the man he had become; he questioned the very motive he had behind burning Zhao, knowing that he didn't need to do what he did. Even if he felt better because of it, it was unnecessary, and there were other ways for him to improve himself, to have an ounce of self-respect._

_"You remember, don't you? What you told me that night?" he asked the Prince, whose eyes narrowed, "You admitted the truth to yourself."_

_"I- I guess, I did." he sighed, before they came to a halt, reaching the boarding area of their ship, "I don't want to be someone I would despise. I want to be the best version of myself."_

_"You will be." Iroh beamed at him, placing a hand on his shoulder, "After you've had a shower... you smell a little bit too much like burnt flesh."_

_The Prince felt sickened at the thought, smelling at his hand to realise that was actually the case, "Oh, sorry about that. I'll go clean up, Uncle."_

_He paced on forward up into his ship, his uncle following on behind him, before he felt his hand clasp his shoulder, "Prince Zuko, there's one more thing."_

_"What is it?" he asked him, trying to sound as calm as possible, not knowing what he would say._

_"You should consider what you want... we ought to spend our time at sea doing something a little more fun that just training." he suggested, the Prince sighing before he gave his uncle a nod, with the smallest of smiles._

_"That would be nice, Uncle."_

* * *

"Are you ready for our field-trip?"

Princess Azula raised a brow at the Avatar as she was packing a small bag of food and other basic necessities, having been told by her brother that they, Aang and their uncle would be going to visit the ruins of the Sun Warriors to learn about the origins of firebending. The idea intrigued her at the very least, and she was sure that if there was anything that could help her better prepare herself and the Avatar to face her father, she would not relent to do so, despite her injuries. Katara had given her another healing session, which had been painful and strenuous to say the very least, but she was feeling even more invigorated; she was ready to do the job she had set out to do, inadvertently at that by choosing her brother over her father. If the Avatar needed to defeat the most powerful firebender alive, then he could use the help of the greatest firebending prodigy alive.

"The word field-trip understates what we are doing today." she declared confidently, standing up as she slung the bag over her shoulder, "There is a truth about firebending that we must learn, according to my uncle, and I looking forward to it."

"Oh, so you're just as eager as I am?" the Air Nomad boy beamed at her, to which she shook her head.

"Well, yes, but not for the same reasons." she acknowledged, before she turned around to face her brother and uncle, who were standing by the Avatar's sky-bison, which they would be taking to fly to the ruins, which were only half a day's ride from the Western Air Temple, "Now, let's get on with this. We are on a schedule."

"Uh- okay." he scratched at the back of his head, before walking forward, "That sounds like something Sokka would say. He's all about planning ahead of time." he explained, making her snicker lightly.

"I am not surprised. Even if he is a bit dull, he is the most prepared member of your group." she conceded, giving respect where it was due.

She assumed that all of the Avatar's successes, if she could them that, should be awarded to Sokka, who she knew for a fact to be behind their failed invasion of the Fire Nation, which might have succeeded if she had not found out about it and thus gave her father time to prepare. Aang chuckled for a moment at her words, before they gained the attention of her brother and uncle.

"Okay, if you two are ready to go, we can leave." Iroh acknowledged, the Avatar nodding, using his airbending to propel himself up onto the head of his sky-bison.

"Alright boy, are you ready to go?" he asked of the beast, which made a positive-sounding groan, if a groan could even be so.

Her uncle approached the side of the animal, finding it a bit of a struggle to climb up, "I can't remember how this works." he sighed, Zuko and Azula both looking at each other with humoured smirks.

Aang offered the older man a hand, which he gratefully accepted before his niece and nephew both followed him up onto the saddle of the sky-bison. Sitting down beside her brother, the Princess looked out back toward the temple where they had been taking refuge since they arrived, watching their onlookers; they all waved at the four as they began to rise up on Appa, who quickly began to pick up pace, speeding away from the courtyard over the massive ravine that the Western Air Temple was carved into. Holding her hands down on the saddle for dear life, she wanted to scream, but relented, if only to save her image in front of her new ally, the Avatar; she instinctively grasped on the arm of her brother, who was probably just as or more uneasy about their quick motion through the sky. Zuko looked back at her momentarily before his eyes focused ahead of them, looking at the fast approaching ocean water that spread from each side of the horizon; within a few moments, they were already over the ocean, with the temple far behind them, becoming smaller with every passing second.

"Enjoying your first flight on Appa?" the young Avatar asked the royal siblings, who cringed slightly, not wanting to offend him, but still feeling just as uneasy as anyone ought to; it was unnatural for people to fly in such a way, unless they were airbenders like the boy before them.

"I-it's exciting." she observed, her brother nodding as he gave Aang a clearly faked smile.

"Yeah. I'm totally not feeling like I could fall off at any moment." he told him sarcastically, their uncle, who was sitting across from them, nodding in agreement.

"This does feel somewhat dangerous, but I trust our friend Appa to keep us upright." he acknowledged, making the Avatar snicker.

"W-well... sometimes we do tricks, isn't that right, buddy?" he asked his sky-bison, who groaned slightly, before moving down, Azula tensing, thinking he was about to make some extreme manoeuvre; she was pleasantly surprised to see that he was simply dropping lower in the sky, approaching the now audible waves of the ocean below them.

"Oh, that's a bit better." she sighed with relief, looking out across the water, "This is a surreal experience, Zuzu."

"I know... I wonder what it would have been like to ride a dragon, like our ancestors once did." he mused, making her curl her lips.

"I'd enjoy that far more than a sky-bison... soaring up into the sky, snaking along past clouds at speeds unimaginable- I would certainly like to try it."

Iroh scratched at his beard, "Perhaps one day, you will." he simply suggested, the Princess and her brother both looking at their uncle with slight confusion.

"But, Uncle, aren't dragons extinct?" Zuko questioned him, the Princess nodding with agreement.

"I read the records about all the dragons that were killed through the reigns of the past three Fire Lords. There hasn't been a dragon hunt since father was our age." she acknowledged, "I assume there are none left... unless our beloved Uncle knows about some remaining ones." she mused, Aang's eyes widening as he turned their way.

"Oh really, they killed the dragons too? Is there anything the Fire Nation didn't like destroying throughout their hundred years of war?" he looked at them uneasily, making Azula raise a brow, considering that there was one part of the world mostly unaffected by the hundred year conflict between the Fire Nation and the rest of the world.

"Well, technically the Northern Water Tribe escaped devastation... unless you count Zhao's little escapade." she acknowledged, Aang turning back to face her, smiling at her with a genuine look of respect.

"Oh, I forgot to thank you for helping us back there. Seriously, the Northern Water Tribe probably owes you it's existence." he admitted, making her chuckle, crossing her arms.

"I did overthrow the Earth King as well. I try to balance my scales of altruism." she joked, before raising a finger to her chin, her eyes narrowing as she more seriously considered her actions, "Although, I did have the Dai Li remove most of the restrictions they had in place in the city about information, seeing that they were redundant, so actually... you could say I did the people there a favour. I would prefer a bloodless conquest to... well, whatever father planned to do to it."

"That is actually a fair point." Iroh acknowledged with a serious face, "But then again, the Earth Kingdom ought to rule itself- and by the Earth Kingdom, I don't mean the Dai Li."

"Don't we technically control the Dai Li, Azula?" Zuko asked her, making her shrug.

"I'm unsure if they'd follow me after what happened in the capital, although if we ever went back to Ba Sing Se, they might reinstate me as ruler." she admitted, the Avatar looking back at her with surprise.

"Now, that'd be a twist of fate." he chuckled, before turning his eyes back toward the water ahead of them.

"Uh- so, uncle, you were saying something about the dragons?" the Prince redirected their conversation back to where it had originally been.

"Ah, yes." his eyes brightened, before he looked back at his niece and nephew with a serious face, "Do you know how I got the name, 'The Dragon of the West'?" he asked them, Azula rolling her eyes.

"I'm not in the mood for a lengthy anecdote, Uncle." she rolled her eyes, before he chuckled.

"Well, I am sure you already have heard about my participation in one of the last dragon hunts. That is how I gained my name, and also, I do have quite a proficiency for fire-breathing." he explained briefly, making Zuko snicker.

"I haven't witnessed your fire-breathing lately, Uncle. When was the last time you showed it off?" he questioned him, the retired general scratching his beard as a smirk grew on his face.

"Well, it proved quite useful in my escape from Zhao's battleship a few months ago." he admitted, making both of the royal siblings smirk; even if she didn't exactly like her uncle, she would still appreciate the sight of him giving a beat-down on some unsuspecting Fire Nation soldiers by fire-breathing at them like a dragon.

"That would have been a sight to behold." Azula acknowledged, before she turned her eyes to Aang, "So how fast can we get to these ruins?" she asked him, the Avatar eyeing her with a smile.

"Appa is the fastest there is. No one can match him!" he declared confidently, before furrowing a brow, "We'll be there before sunset today, easily."

"Well, we're going to have to distract ourselves for a few hours, aren't we?" she acknowledged, her uncle sighing with a disappointed tone.

"I should have brought a Pai Sho set along with us." he expressed his regret, before she snickered.

"I'd rather sleep than have to endure a thousand defeats in that game." she told him, clearly setting out the truth; any game of Pai Sho either of them played with him would be extremely one sided.

"Yeah, Zula has a point. That'd be a very one-sided game." he crossed his arms, the retired general raising a brow at them.

"Well, you could play together against me, that'd be fair." he offered, making them look at each other, each of them curling their lips, knowing that playing together, they would be strategic geniuses.

"That might work." Zuko admitted, his sister rolling her eyes.

"Well it doesn't matter much, seeing that we have no Pai Sho pieces or board to play with." she told them, before leaning back on Appa's saddle, feeling more comfortable after her initial fears, "I'm going lie down and rest... because I have nothing better to do."

"What about meditation?" her brother suggested, making her raise a brow with interest.

"Why would I need to meditate? I'm already calm." she declared, both her uncle and brother looking at her with uneasy eyes.

"Well... that's not wholly accurate, my niece. You're still very upset about what happened at the eclipse." Iroh told her, as if he knew what she was thinking; he was right, anyway, but that didn't make her any less offended.

"I have every right to feel the way I do." she crossed her arms, "Just like Zuko did after his Agni Kai."

"Uh... which one?" the Prince raised a finger, sounding unsure; she was obviously referring to the one with their father.

After a moment of thought, she realised that his duel with Zhao must have strongly effected his emotional state, probably preempting the changes that made him so unusual in her eyes once she accidentally met him at a small Earth Kingdom port.

"Agni Kai? You fought in an Agni Kai?" Aang asked him, intervening in their conversation.

"Well yeah, once against my father, when I got... this." he gestured to his scar, making the Avatar grimace, probably not having heard the exact circumstances of his banishment before, before he continued to explain, "And then against Zhao, where I gave him a scar to match."

"Huh- so you scarred him too." the Avatar raised a finger to his chin, sounding slightly disturbed by the idea.

"Before you ask, it wasn't my idea." Azula raised a hand, deflecting blame that she guessed would come her way; she was the 'negative' influence on Zuko, after all.

"I didn't think it would be." Aang assured her, before looking toward her brother, "But I can respect what you did. That man was crazy."

"Trust me, I didn't do it because he was crazy, I did it because I had a bone to pick." he corrected the Avatar's rather noble assumption of his character; Azula knew, probably better than anyone, that even if Zuko was a 'good' person, he was never going to be very nice, let alone some beacon of morality.

"But you got over your vengeance, didn't you? You were able to move on and grow from it." he suggested, the Prince nodding.

"I guess I did. Maybe it was more being distracted by everything that was happening in the Earth Kingdom. We were protecting a group of refugees for a while, and it forced me to adopt a new mindset." he admitted, before narrowing his eyes at his sister, "Before I was forced out of it by a certain someone."

"Hey. I was just doing my job." she declared, the Avatar rolling his eyes.

"That's a pretty bad excuse for what you did." he acknowledged, making her raise her hands defensively.

"Okay, okay, I was doing what I believed would best help myself and my brother. Unlike yourself, I don't shoulder the responsibility of balance and all that mystical stuff."

"I think what Aang is trying to say, Azula, is that you need to make sense of what motivates you." her uncle explained, making her narrow her eyes, looking up at the clouds above her.

"I want us to win. That is my motivation." she declared, raising a finger, "My loyalties have changed, but my intent has not."

"And what is your intent, Azula?" the Avatar intrigued himself, answering the question within a moment, knowing the answer had not changed for many years, long before she truly understood and accepted her relationship with her brother; she was not defined by her father's principles, but by her own desire to see the world in way she would prefer it to be.

"To make sure the right person rules the Fire Nation."

* * *

Aang's jaw dropped, looking at the massive ruins before him; a whole city, all of which looked to be uninhabited, supposedly a city of the ancient Sun Warriors, a firebending people that preceded the Fire Nation, and according to Zuko and Iroh, were the first people to learn firebending from the dragons. As they walked down through the streets of the eerily quiet city, he glanced about, trying to take note of what he saw; the buildings seemed to be covered with vines and other foliage, giving off the look that no one had been living around the area in a long time.

"So, Uncle, what exactly are we in the ruins of a city for? There doesn't seem to be anyone here." Azula remarked, acknowledging the fact that he was already considering; did they travel all the way to the ruins for no reason, seeing that there were no Sun Warriors about that might hold the truth behind firebending?

"That's where you're wrong, my niece." Iroh raised a finger, making the other three look at each other with surprise.

"Excuse me... you're saying that the Sun Warriors still exist?" Zuko asked him with a shocked face, the retired general nodding, before gesturing up toward a large structure that looked to be some kind of temple.

"We will be able to find them by going to that temple. I came here once before, when I was a young man myself." he explained, before scratching on his beard, "That is how I learned the true nature of firebending."

"Ooh, so are there some gurus- or sages- or someone like that who can teach us?" Aang asked him, Iroh curling his lips as he turned back to face him.

"Well... something like that." he acknowledged, before gesturing for the group to follow, "Now, you all best watch your step. There are a lot of booby traps around these ruins."

"Booby traps?" Aang asked him, remembering the last time he had walked into a booby trap, knowing that was not the best experience, having nearly gotten himself expelled from the Southern Water Tribe because of it.

"They might be protecting something." Azula mused, her brother nodding along with agreement.

"That makes sense. I guess there might be ancient treasures here, looking at the size of this city." he gestured around them.

"I wouldn't go looking for treasures." their uncle warned them, "That will only lead to... complications."

The group continued to walk along through the streets of the seemingly abandoned city, approaching the wide staircase that led up to the top of the temple that sat in the centre of the city; it was enormous, a large pyramid structure that towered up above the rest of the structures.

"I wonder how old this place is." the Avatar mumbled as they began to climb the stairs, Iroh smiled as turned back to look at him.

"Older than the Fire Nation. The Sun Warriors were the first great firebending civilisation, and they were the closest to the origin of their power- the dragons." he explained, making his eyes widened.

"You mean they learnt their bending like how first Air Nomads did?" he asked him, the retired general nodding.

"Indeed, that's right. The dragons taught the Sun Warriors how to bend flames how they did; firebending is wild and dangerous, but once one understands the nature behind their power, it is stronger than one could ever imagine." he explained, his niece's eyes glinting with desire.

"Oh... now I'm really interested." she curled her lips, "So, do you think the Sun Warriors can teach Aang how to bend better than our father?" she asked him, Iroh raising a finger.

"They are not comparable, because they are of a different nature entirely." he told her, before he looked to Zuko, "Your brother has gotten half-way there, but not completely... I believe you all need to see the truth."

As they climbed up the stairs, Aang's eyes darted around, looking around the city as they climbed above it; it was massive, and he was genuinely surprised that it seemed so desolate, even if the old general said that there were Sun Warriors that remained; he guessed they were going to meet them, and whichever masters could teach them the true nature of firebending. He knew that someone like Jeong Jeong wouldn't do, but Iroh seemed certain that they would gain insight from the Sun Warriors; if he had been there before, perhaps he had known about the truth behind firebending for a long time. Why he hadn't taught it to Zuko already was a mystery to the Avatar, but he guessed it probably had something to do with his emotional state; he didn't know much about what the Prince used to be like, but he guessed it was something like his sister- angry, frustrated, and above all, driven to do bad things for not much better reasons.

"I hope these Sun Warriors are as good as you say they are, Uncle." the Princess remarked, before eyeing Aang, "Our friend here needs the power to destroy the Fire Lord, remember?"

"He already has it, my niece. It's called the Avatar State. Once he has control over all of the elements, then he will be much better prepared to use it, isn't that right, Aang?" her uncle explained, asking for clarification from the Avatar, who felt uneasy at thinking about having to use the Avatar State.

"Uh- um, yeah, that's right." he mumbled, before his eyes darted down, feeling unsure how he could deal with the coming battle; Sozin's Comet was only a few weeks away, after all.

He was unsure if Azula would even be receptive to the alternative ideas about firebending, seeing how driven she seemed in wanting to overthrow her father; he was glad that she was on his side rather than with Ozai, but even then, she didn't seem to be the most positive-minded or kind person. They were complete opposites in a way, with Aang trying to be as altruistic as possible, while she was extremely self-centred; not that he couldn't understand why, thinking how her upbringing might have effected her sense of self-worth.

She noticed that he had been blankly staring at her, the Princess clearing her throat, looking at him suspiciously, "What are you looking at?"

He shook his head, not wanting to get her attention, "Uh- nothing." before he tried to increase his pace, walking up beside Iroh as they neared the top of the stairs.

When they reached the top of the stairs, Iroh made a whistling noise, which a few moments later, seemed to catch the attention of the Sun Warriors who had been hiding in the shadows, revealing themselves as they surrounded the four of them.

"Uh... Iroh, are these guys friendly?" he asked him, looking at the various figures surrounding them; they wore light red and gold clothing, the same colour as the civilians he had seen in the Fire Nation, but far more 'primitive', reminding him of the Foggy Swamp Tribe in a way, but with a far more Fire-Nation-y twist.

"Hey, Zuzu. Look at them, does that hairstyle look familiar?" Azula piped up, earning an annoyed glance from her brother; Aang was confused by the banter between them, but he could only assume that Zuko had had a similar hairstyle to the Sun Warriors before them prior to his shaved hair that he distinctly remembered the Prince wearing on Kyoshi Island.

"Iroh." one of the men approached the retired general, before bowing to him respectfully, "It is good to see you again."

"And it is good to you." Iroh bowed in return, before gesturing to the three of them, "This is my nephew, Zuko, and my niece, Azula." before Aang stood forward, pointing at himself.

"And I'm Aang, the Avatar." he declared, the Sun Warriors looking at him with surprise.

"We have not had an Avatar visit the Sun Warriors for many generations." the man acknowledged, "I am the Chief of the Sun Warriors." he introduced himself before raising a brow, "I assume that you have come to learn from the masters."

"The masters?" Aang asked him, intriguing himself, the chief pointing to a split mountain in the distance, just outside of the ruins.

"You desire to learn the way of the Sun, and to do so, you need to learn from the masters, Ran and Shaw." he explained, narrowing his eyes at the two royal siblings, "When you present yourselves, they'll read your hearts, your souls, and your ancestry." before he stepped toward Azula, towering over her, "If they deem you worthy, they'll teach you. If they don't, you'll be destroyed on the spot."

"I'm not afraid." the Princess declared, before her uncle stepped over and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I will prepare you all. There is a technique that you must learn." he explained, Aang raising a brow with interest.

"My first firebending form?" he asked him curiously, the retired general chuckling.

"It will be. It's called the Dancing Dragon."

* * *

Raising a brow at his uncle's fluid movements through what he would call the middle ground between a dance routine and a firebending set, Zuko considered what he had gotten himself into; the idea of dancing in front of the firebending masters, Ran and Shaw, amused him, but also made him feel a bit self-conscious. He had no idea if he could perfect such a set, but he knew that he, Azula and Aang would have to to do just that to be accepted by the masters; he was unsure if the masters really would destroy them if they weren't worthy, but he truly didn't want to see that eventuality. The way the Sun Warrior's chief phrased it made the Prince feel uneasy, unsure if his sister was worthy. He wanted to think so, but he knew who she was; whether the masters accepted her for that, was the biggest unknown he had, something that his uncle had refused to address.

"This is... an interesting form, to say the least." his sister mused, before she rose up to her feet, gesturing for Zuko to do the same, "Come on, Zuzu. Let's get this over and done with." she prodded him, the Prince sighing before getting up.

His uncle pointed to a position in the courtyard before them, "I want you both to move in a semi-circle as you do the moves, understood?" he asked the pair, both of them nodding before moving to stand beside each other, ready to do to the form.

"Yeah, got it, Uncle." his sister rolled her eyes as she moved into the first position of the form, each of them standing on one foot.

"Now, begin!" he declared, Zuko following on key, taking the first stance, dropping his raised foot down to his left, before spinning around and facing toward the inside of the circle, looking toward his sister as he took the next stance.

With each following movement, he realised how similar the moves were to the sets he had learned throughout the years, moving through each them, alternating between facing toward his sister and facing away; he noticed his sister grimace as one of their moves resembled a form he had grown to know all too well- lightning-generation. He felt a sense of regret seeing her face; Azula was always the kind of person to maintain a tough exterior, but at that moment it faltered, and he understood why- utter fear of their father. When they reached the final position, their fists came to strike each other's, their uncle clapping his hands approvingly.

"Brilliant!" he declared, before turning to face Aang, "Now, would you like to try?"

The Avatar made a small but confident smile, knowing that the form would teach him more about firebending; he was just like how the Prince was when he was younger, first learning how to bend, amazed by what he could do, the forms he could learn. Times had changed, but he appreciated his enthusiasm nonetheless; he'd need to be enthusiastic if he wanted to master firebending in the matter of a few weeks. He and Iroh moved to do the form together, letting Zuko and his sister watch; the Avatar had quickly picked up the movements of the form, executing them perfectly, much to his surprise. He was unsure if firebending forms would be too foreign for the boy, who he knew relied a lot on his native element, air, compared to waterbending and earthbending, which he had mastered already.

"You know, the Avatar looks like he's picking up this form quicker than you've ever picked up anything, brother." Azula suggested, making the Prince roll his eyes.

"I know." he agreed with her, "But him being a quick-learner is good for me, so I have no problem with it."

"I believe you understand the forms well enough." Iroh acknowledged, before gesturing toward the Sun Warriors, "They've been waiting for us."

The four of them approached the group of Sun Warriors, who until not too long ago, he thought were a long extinct people; it turned out that they did happen to survive, despite everything, and remained hidden from the outside world. The Chief glanced their way, letting them approach, before he cleared his throat, obviously about to give them some directions on how to convene with the masters they had been talking about.

"Now that you're ready to go see the masters, you must bring them a piece of the Eternal Flame." he explained, gesturing for them to follow, leading them under a roofed structure at the top of the massive temple, which contained a large fire that boomed out of a cavity in a wall; pointing to the fire, the Chief continued, "This fire is the very first one. It was given to man by the dragons. We have kept it going for thousands of years."

Zuko's eyes widened with surprise, "I don't believe it."

"Hmmm..." Azula scratched at her chin, "This fire would be far more suitable for the throne room, don't you think?"

He cringed, realising how insensitive it was for her to say that, "Azula!" he grumbled, "This a sacred flame, not some kind of thing you take because you like it!"

"Your brother is right. This flame represents our dedication to firebending- it is at the core of our identity." he declared, before narrowing his eyes at the three of them, "You each take a piece of it to the masters, to show your commitment to the sacred art of firebending."

Looking at each other, Zuko and Azula both nodded, before they turned their eyes to Aang, who looked uneasy, "Um, Mister Sun Chief Sir?" he addressed the Chief, "I'm not a firebender yet. Couldn't one of my friends here carry my fire for me?"

"No." he refused, before he took a part of the Eternal Flame into his hands, and split it into his hands, "This ritual illustrates the essence of Sun Warrior philosophy. You must maintain a constant heat. The flame will go out if you make it too small. Make it too big, and you might lose control."

Azula and Zuko both stepped forward, accepting a flame into each of their hands; he looked at his sisters flame for a moment, realising it wasn't turning blue, which surprised him, although he didn't say anything about it."

Aang approached with an uneasy grimace on his face; he understood why the Avatar feared firebending, but he knew that he ought to accept it with an open mind, "I'm sorry, I'm just a little nervous." before he accepted the flame, his eyes brightening with surprise, "it's just like a little heartbeat."

The Chief looked at hem, "Fire is life, not just destruction." before he pointed to the mountain to their west, "You will take your flames up there. The cave of the masters is beneath that rock."

"We will take our time." Iroh stepped forward, before gesturing to them, "I will show the way."

Zuko turned to face his sister, looking at her flame once more, "Your flame... it's not blue."

The Princess's eyes widened as she looked down at the fire in her hands, before she narrowed her eyes at him, "What of it?"

"Uh, it's just a little unexpected, that's all." he admitted, before she shrugged her shoulders, beginning to follow their uncle and Aang, who had already began to walk on down from the temple.

"This fire, as you said, is sacred." she turned her eyes back to him, with the same determined glare she always held up to peering eyes, "I will respect it, and hopefully, the masters will respect me in return."

* * *

The sounds of horns blowing sent a shiver down Azula's back, making her look to both her sides, eyeing the two caverns that sat an each end of the large stone walkway they were standing on; Aang trembled back with fear, hearing the rumbling coming from his direction, and she noiticed that he accidentally lost hold of his part of the Eternal Flame, which dissipated as he placed his hand down.

"Uh, guys, my fire went out." he mumbled, the royal siblings both giving him the same sceptical look.

"What do you want us to do about it?" Zuko asked him, the Princess snickering at him, knowing exactly what the Avatar would jump to.

"He wants a bit of our fire. Is that even allowed?" she asked her brother, who shrugged his shoulders.

"They didn't cover that." he admitted, before Aang looked at them pleadingly.

"Give me some, please!" he asked of them, the Princess rolling her eyes.

"As much as I like to watch people beg, that's a no from me." she refused, not wanting to compromise her own position; she was ready to face the masters, and the master of the elements having a panic attack about losing his flames was not her concern- whoever they were about to face, she was sure he could stand up against them.

"I can't make my own." he pleaded, reaching to grab her hand, the Princess elbowing him away; he looked at her with a frustrated glance, "Come on, don't be stingy!"

"Trying to steal fire from an injured woman. How low of you, mighty Avatar." she mocked him, Zuko rolling his eyes.

"Stop it. We have to be ready to face the masters." he chided them both, before she felt the ground rumbling once more.

Aang looked back toward the hole, before he tensed up, looking even more afraid than he was before, "Please, just a little flame!" he pleaded, the Prince stepping between him and Azula, slicing his own flame in half before he gave one part to the Avatar, who beamed brightly upon seeing the fire in his hands.

"Happy?" he asked him, as if to ascertain if his fit of fear had ended.

"Yeah, I'm ha-" he was cut off by another rumbling sound, his eyes widening with worry, looking down at the cave across from him, Zuko turning to face the cave in his direction, "Uh oh."

Suddenly, as if out of no where, a red dragon flew out of the cave in Aang's direction, the three of them looking on in shock, before it roared and circled around the bridge.

"A dragon!" she exclaimed with shock, before she heard another roar, looking toward the cave in her brother's direction, seeing a blue dragon flying out, coiling around the bridge and circling with the red dragon.

"These are the masters." the Prince mumbled, "The last dragons."

"I can't believe it." Azula mumbled, before she looked at the dragons, majestically flying acround them, "So... the Dancing Dragon?" she suggested, realising that their uncle had taught them the dance for a reason.

"Of all people, you think we should dance?" Zuko looked at her with surprise, Aang nodding with agreement.

"Well, I agree. Let's just try it; they might set us on fire if we do nothing." he acknowledged, the Prince sighing, unwillingly nodding.

"Fine, let's do it." he mumbled, the three of them getting into the posture of the dancing dragon, Zuko and Aang standing to the sides, ready to begin moving in a circle, while Azula stood in the middle, prepared to move in form through the centre of the circle.

She began to move through the form, her direction alternating with each move to turn her face to either the Avatar or her brother, taking note that the dragons were moving accordingly with the very set itself, as if they were in harmony; her eyes widened with surprise, but she continued to move through the set, feeling as if she was building up to send out a powerful beam of fire, but when she reached the end of the form, her fists collided with Aang and Zuko's, and no fire came out. Loosening from the form, she took note that the dragons had stopped spinning around, landing on either side of the bridge away from them, looking as if they were about to set them alight; she tensed up, before breathing in and out, knowing she shouldn't fear a little bit of fire; she was proven wrong and right at the same time as she instinctively cowered down from the flames, which didn't hit her, not by a long shot.

Looking up at the multi-coloured flames that came from the dragons' mouths, which coiled into a vortex that spun up above them, her eyes widening as she looked at it. It was beautiful, the most amazing fire she had ever seen; she was ashamed to think that her blue fire was awesome upon seeing the multi-coloured flames that flew up above her, knowing that it was more powerful and majestic than any bending she could create. Firebending was not just the power that one could muster through their pure strength and determination, but life itself; there was a reason her brother was able to generate lightning- because he had achieved inner peace, harmony with his very being and the world. Her amorality was a poor substitute, and she realised in that moment that was the truth of the matter; she needed to find a purpose, one more powerful than revenge against her father, no matter how much he deserved to face justice, and she already knew what that purpose was.

"I understand." her brother mumbled, Azula nodding at him, feeling grateful for everything he had taught her, intentional or not.

"I do too." she agreed, before looking up at the flames as they slowly began to dissipate.

The dragons flew up and coiled around each other once more before returning to their caves, the silence following their departure making it feel as if they had never been there; the Princess knew that she would never forget what she just witnessed. It was pure, unadulterated firebending, not distorted by any ideas of power, hatred or domination- the truth behind all the lies. The three of them looked at each other for a moment, before they turned to the staircase, beginning to walk back down toward the Sun Warrior Chief and her uncle, who had obviously lied to protect the last dragons; she thought that funnily enough, he was more deserving of his title than ever. The Dragon of the West had protected the last dragons and the Sun Warrior's secret existence, so they could have the opportunity to learn their secrets, and come to understand firebending for what it truly was. The greatest treasures the Sun Warriors held was not anything material, it was the ideas that their culture preserved, what Fire Lord Sozin and his successors had destroyed.

Her brother's eyes widened as he considered what they had just witnessed, "Their fire was beautiful. I saw so many colours, colours I've never imagined." he admitted, Aang nodding along with agreement.

"Like firebending harmony." he noted his idea of the matter, the Princess looking down, realising she ought to say something.

"Zuko... we have to right the wrongs of our ancestors." she declared, much to the surprise of her brother and Aang.

"So you understand?" the Prince asked her, to which she nodded.

"I do. The biggest lies hold the greatest truths behind them." she admitted, as they came to approach the Sun Warrior chief.

"Yes. They judged you, and gave you visions of the meaning of firebending." he explained, before ZUko's eyes turned to their uncle.

"So... you came here to face the masters, and learned the truth as well?" he asked, the retired general nodding with a smile.

"Indeed. I lied to protect them, so one one else from the Fire Nation would hunt for them." he explained to them, Azula tilting her head and making a small smile, appreciative of her uncle's decision to lie.

"That's the best lie I've ever heard from you." she acknowledged, making him chuckle lightly; perhaps they were more similar that either of them thought.

"All this time, I thought firebending was destruction. Since I hurt Katara, I've been too afraid and hesitant. But now I know what it really is... it's energy, and life." he beamed, Zuko nodding along.

"Yeah, it's like the sun but inside of you. Do you guys realise this?" he asked the Chief, making Azula roll her eyes, seeing the obvious answer.

"They're the Sun Warriors, Zuzu." she chided him, the Chief raising a finger.

"That is right." he confirmed.

"I understand now, why you were able to bend so well at Ba Sing Se, brother. You weren't powered by your anger and frustration, but by your desire to find Suki and save Aang and his friends." she acknowledged, the Prince nodding, before looking to the Chief.

"Y-yeah, firebending is about achieving what you desire, what makes you get up every day." he explained, before he turned his eyes to her, "Azula, what do you want?"

"I want to redeem our nation from the clutches of our father. Sozin's lies will no longer hold sway over our nation; we will fix the world, together." she explained, making Iroh and Aang look at her with surprise, but her brother was not- it was as if he always knew she could see the truth, see behind the lies they had been told and raised to impose on the rest of the world.

She then moved into a form, sending a blue blast of flames up into the air, her brother and the Avatar repeating her motions to both create fire blasts, showing that they all could bend just as well as each other.

"Now you have learned the secrets, and you know about our tribe's existence, we have no choice but to imprison you here forever." the Chief declared, the two royal siblings stepping back with shock, before his face turned to a smile, "Just kidding." before he returned to more serious look, "But seriously, don't tell anyone."

"We will not. You will remain hidden, but trust me, what we have learned here, it will become the Fire Nation's truth." she assured him, before turning to face her uncle, feeling like she respected him for the first time in her entire life.

"Thank you, Uncle, I needed to see this."


	53. Where the War Prisoners Go

_Glancing out toward the quickly approaching port, Prince Zuko sighed with relief; he and his crew had been travelling along the western coast of the Earth Kingdom, and were caught in an unexpected storm. Luckily, their vessel made it through the rough weather with some struggles, the Prince having to save one of the crewmen who was nearly thrown overboard; his uncle had warned him about going outside in the storm, and he was sure that he was coming down with some kind of illness. He did know that his crew were in need of some rest, and their vessel needed to be resupplied; the helmsman directed them in a bee-line to the closest friendly port, which according to reports had only been occupied from a few weeks, formerly a port used by a nearby Earth Kingdom military outpost. Looking out toward the port town, his eyes widened, taking note of the devastation; even if there were no burning structures or soldiers patrolling about, the Fire Nation's forces had obviously swept through the town in some kind of battle, as there were numerous destroyed structures and boulders littering his field of view._

_"How are you feeling, nephew?" he heard his uncle's voice behind him, the Prince coughing, before turning to face him, trying pull off the most confident look he could._

_"I'm fine, Uncle." he assured him, before turning his eyes back toward the dock, which was already waiting beside them, the ship making it's final movements to dock, "Let's go and get some food... or something."_

_"That is a good idea, Prince Zuko. That'll help you stave off whatever you're coming down with." his uncle smiled at him, the Prince glancing back at him with a frustrated look; even if he was sick, he didn't want his uncle to worry about him- he wasn't some kind of weakling that couldn't deal with something as simple as a cold._

_He turned his eyes back to his uncle, "The crew know that they're getting a break, right?"_

_"Of course, I informed them as soon as you told me that was your intention." his uncle assured him, the Prince nodding before walking over to the port side railing of his ship, where the plank would be lowered and allow them to walk down into the town._

_"Get on it! Get the plank out!" he heard Lieutenant Jee bark an order, making Zuko curl his lips, glad that he wasn't listening to his own screaming voice; he preferred not to be the one screaming orders for a change, and he didn't want to ruin the momentary goodwill he had gained from incidentally saving a crewman's life._

_He stood out of the way, letting two crewmen take the metal plank out and lower it down onto the dock, before locking it into place, "It's in position, sir." one of them told Jee, who tilted his chin up, gesturing for them to get out of the way._

_"Thanks!" Iroh waved to the men before beginning to walk on down the plank, the Prince cringing at the creaking it made; whether it was his uncle's portly frame or the age of it, he was sure that the metal plank was going to dramatically snap in half one day._

_Following behind his uncle down the plank, he glanced down the dock, seeing a small contingent of Fire Nation soldiers approaching them; a greeting party for the Prince it seemed, whether a formality or a crude customs check, it didn't usually fuss him, as any soldier who saw him was immediately silenced by the scar on his face- the mark of his greatest dishonour unusually enough did from time to time have some meagre benefits. As the soldiers approached, he raised his shoulders up instinctively, knowing that he ought to seem serious, imposing and above all, fitting of his title. He was still a prince, even if his father had banished him, and thus, he ought to act like it._

_"Prince Zuko, General Iroh." one of the men addressed the pair, his armour and lack of a helmet making him out as an officer, before he made a conventional bow of respect toward him, "It is an honour to have you two visit our port." he acknowledged, before the Prince raised a hand._

_"Are there any restaurants or other eateries in this town?" he asked the men, who looked surprised by his question._

_"Um, yes." the officer nodded, before pointing across toward the town, "There's a few left in the town- a lot of the people here fled when our forces moved in." he explained to the Prince, who understood the issues that arose whenever the Fire Nation came into a new area; they weren't exactly liked by the local populace, and the harsh treatment some towns received due to rebellions meant that they could find themselves desolate and depopulated after the Fire Nation arrived._

_He and his uncle both nodded along, Iroh giving them a curt wave, "Thanks for the directions." he acknowledged, before the two of them walked on past the group of soldiers, continuing on down the length of the dock toward the town, where he could get a better look at the town before them._

_Walking alongside his uncle, Zuko approached the edge of the town, taking a close note of the damage that had been dealt to it; flames had devoured multiple houses and stores, and there seemed to be little effort made to repair said damaged structures. Glancing down the main street of the port town, he took note that it almost felt like some kind of ghost town, although the small children he saw racing across the the street indicated otherwise; as he and Iroh made their way down the street, the small children avoided them, giving them steely glances. Obviously, they didn't like the Fire Nation, but upon closer inspection, he realised that they weren't just unruly kids on the street; their clothes were torn and they looked dirty, far too dirty for any normal kid- he guessed they might be orphans or even just abandoned and left to roam the street of their town while the others fled._

_They approached what looked like one of the only open stores in the town, a small tavern that looked only mildly damaged from the fighting that had occurred, "This place looks... homely." his uncle noted with slight unease, obviously taking note of the devastation that had occurred in the very town they had walked through as if nothing was amiss._

_Entering the tavern, he and his uncle looked around, realising they would have no problem finding a table, seeing that the place was virtually empty bar a few old men that were chatting in the far corner, eyeing them suspiciously as soon as they walked in. They approached the bar, the bartender standing there looking at both of them with a snide glance, before he eyed behind them, seeming to check if they were being accompanied by soldiers._

_"What did you two want?" he asked them bluntly, the Prince stepping forward._

_"I wanted to see the menu you have here." he asked, the bartender looking at him gruffly, before spitting, and gladly not in Zuko's face._

_"One, I'm not serving two fucking ash-makers." he raised a finger, before sticking up a second, "Two, we don't serve food here any more. Just sorghum beer and rice-wine." he told the pair._

_"Is there any place here that serves food?" the Prince asked once more, genuinely just wanting to find a decent meal and not force the cook, who fairly deserved a break, to make the royals another fancy dish just because it was his job._

_"Not to your kind." he growled, before pointing to the doorway._

_"Now, leave, unless you're the tax-collector, in which case we might have a problem." he demanded, Zuko stepping back for a moment raising his hands, not wanting to fight some random aggrieved Earth Kingdom commoner._

_"We're leaving." he assured him, before glancing his uncle's way, "Let's go, Uncle. I'm sure we can demand that the local commander host us."_

_"That might actually work, nephew." Iroh admitted, before gesturing to the antagonistic bartender, "Have a nice day. Sorry for intruding on you and your establishment."_

_The bartender looked rather shocked by the apology, but didn't have a chance to respond as uncle and nephew left the tavern, returning to the street, where they were still getting angry, suspicious glances._

_"We're really hated by these people, aren't we?" he asked his uncle rhetorically, earning him a nod in response._

_"I heard from the reports that all the earthbenders in this town were captured and sent to a work-camp." he explained, the Prince raising a brow._

_"For resisting the occupation?" he asked him, to which Iroh shook his head, his eyes darting about the villagers._

_"No, just for being benders." he clarified, "These people hate us for a very good reason."_

_"I didn't do that." the Prince declared, before his uncle sighed, shaking his head with disappointment._

_"The Fire Nation military did, therefore it is the will of the Fire Lord. You are the first-born son of the Fire Lord."_

_"I'm banished." he growled, knowing that his uncle fully understood that he had no power or influence over the affairs of the Fire Nation government or his father._

_"What will you say when you aren't?"_

* * *

"If someone was captured by the Fire Nation, where would they be taken?"

Zuko almost wanted to laugh at Sokka's question, but not because it was funny in any way; he had asked that very same question to himself when he found out that Suki was captured by his sister, and he had gone out of his way to break her out of prison. The fact that the Water Tribe teen probably wanted to do the same thing for someone didn't surprise him; as much of an idiot he seemed at times, Sokka was a pretty serious and determined guy, and he would do anything to set things right, just like Zuko himself.

"What do you mean... exactly? Was someone important to you captured?"

"Y-yeah..." he mumbled, scratching the back of his head, "When the invasion plan failed, some of our troops were taken, because the Fire Nation surrounded us. I just want to know where they might be."

Raising a brow he eyed him with a thought in mind, "It depends... how high ranking was this person in the invasion force?"

"It's my dad. He led the entire invasion force." he explained, Zuko cringing, knowing exactly where his father would have been taken, some place that he was quite familiar with, though not personally.

"It's not good, Sokka." he stressed, the boy looking at him pleadingly.

"Please."

He sighed, before deciding to give him the blunt facts of the matter, "I'm almost certain that he was taken to the Boiling Rock."

"What's that?"

"The highest security prison in the Fire Nation. It's on an island in the middle of a boiling lake." he explained, Sokka looking at him, absolutely mortified.

"Where is it?" he asked him, essentially confirming to the Prince that he intended to break into the prison; he sighed, shaking his head, knowing that there was someone who was probably better at answering his questions.

"Well if you're really so intent on getting there... I think you'd better ask someone who's been there." he acknowledged, the Water Tribe teen looking at him dumbfounded.

"Someone here broke out of that prison?" he questioned, Zuko gesturing to his girlfriend who was sitting by the campfire enjoying some of his uncle's tea with the rest of the group.

"Suki did... with a little help. If you are really so intent on breaking your father out, you should probably ask her about it." he explained, the Water Tribe teen nodding, before both of them returned to the campfire, Zuko sitting down next to Suki, who looked at him with surprise, seeing the slightly uneasy expression on his face.

"Zuko, what's wrong?" she asked him, the Prince sighing.

"Sokka wants to break his father out of prison." he explained, raising a finger to stress, "The Boiling Rock, to be precise."

She narrowed her eyes at him, "Are you going to help him?" she questioned him, Zuko thinking of asking her the same question.

"I was thinking of the same thing to ask you." he admitted, the Kyoshi Warrior looking down in the teacup in her hand.

"As much as I'd like to help him... you know how hard it would be to break in and out of that prison- I got through with stealth and pure luck."

"I'd say you're a master of stealth... and I'm the Blue Spirit. Maybe we'd have a chance." he admitted, Suki sighing as she looked down into her hands.

"Ah... if only I kept that uniform. It might have actually come in handy." she admitted, before narrowing her eyes at Sokka, who was sitting across from them, silently looking at them speak, although they were whispering, so he was unsure whether he actually could hear them.

"You know... it was hard to get you broken out with just yourself, but the thing is, the gondola is the main issue. If we can't sneak out, then maybe we can cheat a little- Appa could fly us in and out." he suggested, having realised the speed of the sky-bison was a great advantage in both fleeing and attempting to make a stealthy approach.

"And if we could just get onto the island, stealing uniforms wouldn't be that big of an issue, and then we could just pretend to be guards; I know their routines well enough that I could help us all get into character." she suggested, making Zuko raise a brow.

"All? You think the Kyoshi Warriors could help us?" he asked, the head warrior nodding confidently.

"I am certain the girls are more than capable of bit of stealth and imitation. We've already done it once before to fool the Fire Nation, I'm sure we could do it again." she declared, before she eyed Sokka, "He looks like he's really intent on doing it."

"I guess we'll have to wait and see what he does." the Prince conceded, before his eyes turned to face her, "I don't want to put us in needless danger; the eclipse was already bad enough."

"I know, Zuko." she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, before pecking him on the cheek, "At the very least you're considering it. If you didn't care you would have refused on the spot."

"I feel like I have some boots to fill. I want to prove to myself and all of them that I'm a good guy... I don't know if they all trust me yet." he admitted his insecurity, noting all the eyes that were on him at that very instant; she chuckled at him, curling her lips as she pat him on the leg.

"You're a good guy." she assured him, "You don't need to prove yourself. You just need to do what you think is right."

"Yeah..." he mumbled before nodding, glancing his uncle's way for a moment; Zuko didn't want him or his sister to worry about him, "We need to help him, 'cause he can't do this alone."

* * *

Suki smirked at Sokka's surprised look, as she sat on the saddle of Appa with the Kyoshi Warriors, awaiting the Water Tribesman, who they were sure would come for the sky-bison; as it turned out, he did just that, the head warrior forced to grasp his hand to prevent him from falling backwards off the saddle.

"What are you guys doing here?" he asked them, eyeing them accusingly, as if they didn't already know what he intended to do.

"Waiting for you." Nakata clarified, before the leader of the group cleared her throat.

"Zuko checked with Aang to see if taking Appa was okay, and he said it was, as long as he didn't come into any danger." she explained, the Water Tribesman shocked once more as he felt a hand on his shoulder; Zuko vaulted himself up onto the sky-bison, much to his surprise.

"Uh- hi, Zuko... and thanks." he admitted, "So you're coming to help me save my dad?" he asked the group, Suki grinning at him.

"What did you think, dummy? That we were going to stop you?" she prodded him, making him turn away with embarrassment.

"W-well... I don't know." he admitted, "I wanted to do this alone."

"I'm the one here who knows exactly where this prison is." the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors stressed, narrowing her eyes at him, "You need me for directions, at the very least." she stressed, forcing a nod out of him.

"What about you guys?" he asked the other Kyoshi Warriors, Amari curling her lips as she pulled out a fan.

"You think we'd waste a precious opportunity to kick some Fire Nation butts?" she asked him rhetorically, making him nod along with an almost impressed look.

"Yeah, that's fair." he conceded, before his eyes turned to Zuko, who he didn't need to ask to get a response.

"You're can't do this alone, and honestly, it's my fault any of this happened. If I didn't distract Aang, he would have gotten to my father nonetheless with Toph's seismic sense, and maybe we wouldn't be in this situation."

"I wouldn't say it's your fault, if we-" Sokka tried to deflect the blame away from the Prince, who cut him off, seemingly knowing what to say.

"I want to help you. We all want to help you, because we understand." he acknowledged, the Water Tribe warrior smiling at the group.

"Thanks."

Zuko smiled back, "No problem. Now, let's get flying." he suggested, the Water Tribe teen clambering over to Appa's head.

"Sorry for waking you up, Appa, but, we need you." he patted the giant beast on his nape, making it groan, "Yip, yip!" he called on him, the sky-bison leaping up before it began to fly up into the air.

"Wow! This is way cooler than an airship." Esumi exclaimed, making Sokka chuckle.

"They run on fire, he runs on... uh- lots of hay." he scratched at his chin, taking a moment to consider their choice of flight, "Whether that's more efficient or not, I'm unsure."

The sky-bison groaned, making the Water Tribesman sigh, "I didn't mean to offend you, buddy. I'm sure you're way better than anything the Mechanist can think up."

Suki snickered at how he was talking to the animal, the other Kyoshi Warriors giving him the same odd look as they chuckled at him, although his head was facing forward and disinterested in their laughter; Zuko leaned back on the saddle, putting an arm around her, and looked up into the cloudy sky above them.

"Sucks that there's no stars out." she acknowledged, making him nod along.

"That'd be a lot nicer." he agreed, looking at her sweetly before they were interrupted by a far too familiar voice.

"Get a room!" Amari told them jokingly, the head warrior turning to face her with a sceptical look.

"A room? We're on a sky-bison." she retorted, raising her hands up, "There is no room."

"Then don't be so lovey-dovey. Just go to sleep, like the rest of us." the Kyoshi Warrior argued in return.

"That's what we were going to do." Zuko simply put it, before pulling himself down onto the saddle further, just so he didn't have to listen to her comments; Suki agreed with the sentiment, pulling herself down beside him and lying down, snuggling closer to him as the other Kyoshi Warriors lay themselves down as well.

Holding a hand over his chest, his eyes darted to look at her, the unease in his expression visible, "Suki, do you think we can actually do this?" he questioned, the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors looking back at him with a determined glance.

"Oh, we can do it. I'm the only one who's broken out of that prison, so breaking into it and out again isn't the hardest thing in the world."

* * *

Focusing ahead of him, Sokka realised that the smoking volcano ahead of them had to be what he was looking for; the Boiling Rock was supposedly the most secure prison in the Fire Nation, where the worst criminals were sent, but also the leaders of groups captured in the war, like Suki, who had been captured by Azula a few months back. He kept his hands on Appa's reins, leading the sky-bison to lower in the sky and they approached the island, knowing that they'd best avoid the prison itself on Appa, as well as the port, which at that time was empty, but he was sure a Fire Nation ship full of prisoners, perhaps including his father, could arrive at any time. Looking up at the sky, it was nearly midday after he, Zuko and the Kyoshi Warriors had left in the dead of night; midday must have been the worst time to try and enter the prison, and as such he didn't make any immediate moves, simply directing Appa to land on the rim of the volcano.

"There it is." he heard Suki behind him, "The Boiling Rock."

"Okay," Sokka began turning around to face her, "what exactly do we need to do to locate my father?" he asked her, the Kyoshi Warrior smirking with an idea in mind.

"Going into the prison under the assumption your father is already there is a mistake. For all we know, the Fire Nation might still be organising all of the prisoners back near the capital." she acknowledged, before reaising a finger, reassuringly, "However, I think that if we snuck in tonight, we could quickly steal some uniforms, check the records and get back on Appa."

"So what if he isn't there?" he asked her the only question he had on his mind.

"If he isn't there, then we'll have to wait." Zuko intervened in the conversation, breaking out of what the Water Tribesman assumed was some kind of meditation.

"How long?" he queried further, the Prince rolling his eyes.

"I don't know, Sokka, that's kinda the point. We can't be certain your father is in there until we check for ourselves." he told them, before his eyes narrowed; if his father wasn't there, then the only reasonable way that he'd arrive is by boat, one that hadn't arrived at that point.

"Okay. Do you think we could break into a prison ship?" he asked him, Amari clearing her throat and raising a finger.

"We broke into a Fire Nation compound back into the Earth Kingdom, and we didn't even have have a sky-bison then. We can definitely do that."

"That's assuming we can find it." Zuko acknowledged, before furrowing a brow, "Let's think about that later. First, we need to find out if he's here."

After a few moments of silence as Appa dropped down on the edge of the caldera, "I've got an idea guys." Nakata rose up, pointing to Suki, "Remember how you nroke out of the Boiling Rock?"

"I'll never forget it." the head warrior acknowledged, before her eyes narrowed, "What of it?"

"You told us you used the gondola to cross over to the outer part of the island, right?" she asked her in clarification, to which she nodded, "The gondola must have people running stations on either side, so that they can direct it around."

"That is most likely the case." Zuko acknowledged, "What did you have in mind?"

"There can't be many guards around; now we could wait until nightfall to sneak in on Appa, but I propose we fast-forward our plans."

Sokka's eyes widened, realising what she was saying, "That's brilliant! We can beat them up, steal their uniforms and take the gondola down, acting like nothing's wrong, go find out if my dad's in the prison, and take the gondola back up, as if we were returning to 'our duties'."

"Stealing my thunder much..." the Kyoshi Warrior narrowed her eyes on him like daggers before her expression brightened to a grin, "But yeah, that's pretty much my idea."

Suki stood up, seeing that they had landed on the caldera, "This should work." she acknowledged, before gesturing to their right, along the caldera toward the cable of the gondola which the Water Tribesman could see in the distance, "Now let's get to the gondola station, and time our attack perfectly; if there's too many guards, there'es a chance they'll signal the prison. We need to be careful.

He rose to his feet, placing his hands on his hips confidently, "I am the epitome of careful."

"Didn't you tell too many people about your invasion plan and thus let the Earth King blabber to my sister of all people?" Zuko questioned the soundness of his declaration.

"Th-that wasn't my fault." he dismissed his words, "How did you even find out aobout that?"

"My sister literally was making jokes about it to my father." he raised a finger, much to the Water Tribesman's surprise, "So, yes, Sokka, the Fire Lord personally believes that you're an idiot."

Sokka's blush of embarrassment turned into a glare of anger, "I'll show him." he cracked his knuckles, the Prince patting his shoulder.

"Oh, you will, but first, let's try and focus on getting your dad out of Fire Nation custody." he reoriented the conversation, Sokka nodding before he climbed off of Appa.

"So, what do you all say? Are we going to go fool the Fire Nation into giving us all the information we could ever want to know about their prison system?" he asked the group, Amari raising her fan into the air.

"Fuck yes!" she declared so boisterously that it actually surprised the other warriors.

"That's a little too eager, but I enjoy your support." he acknowledged, Suki raising a brow at him sceptically.

"Sokka, you can never be too eager to commit subversion against the Fire Nation."

* * *

Catching a breath after her rather intense beat down of the gondola station's guards, Suki wiped the sweat from her brow, before smirking with confidence, seeing that they had completed the first part of Nakata's accelerated plan; it worked without a hitch, the group waiting for the gondolas to be not moving to take their chance, moving in quickly on their opponents, who obviously didn't expect a small force to quite literally pop out from underneath them. A little investigation of the inner side of the caldera showed her that there were more platforms for the group to walk along, like the one she had taken refuge upon during her escape, moving right under the guards before jumping up to defeat them in the span of a minute. As she lulled over the fight that had just taken place, she took note of the Kyoshi Warriors stripping the guards of their armour and tying them up. Their new plan would involve a little more stealth, and unlike the darkness of night, it required a little more skill on their behalf.

"Good job, girls." she congratulated her warriors, before looking at a uniform on the ground eyeing the watch-house that sat by the gondola station, "We'll need to get changed." she stated the obvious, before looking at the two men with them, "You two can get changed somewhere else or wait." she clarified, making Sokka blush while Zuko simply shook his head.

"Nope. Don't want to try that." her boyfriend admitted, before he looked at the Water Tribesman beside him, who forced a response out at that moment.

"I wasn't going to do that. I'm an honourable warrior." he defend himself from being entitled a pervert, even though there had been no implication that he would have been one.

"We trust you, buddy." Zuko assured him, before he gestured to Suki and the other warriors.

"Now, be quick, a gondola might come up before you know it. We'll handle the guard issue." he acknowledged the restrained and unconscious guards that lay around them.

Suki walked right over toward the watch-house, opening the door that was unlocked, revealing a small lounge area she assumed the guards would rest in, as well as a hallway full of cells, probably for holding prisoners just in case the gondola wasn't working; she called out to the two boys, "Sokka! Zuko! There's cells in here you can put them in." before looking to her warriors, "We can all get changed in the guards' leisure room." she explained, the nods of confirmation enough for her, immediately walking on into the room, untying her armour pieces off from her green robes.

She grabbed a wipe out from her small belt bag, which was to be used to clean her make-up off when she went to bed, although she realised at that moment she would need it a little earlier than expected; her eyes darted back, hearing the sound of footsteps entering the watch-house. Seeing the two boys holding two unconscious guards each, she gestured for Esumi, who was closest to the door to close it. She saw the briefest of waves coming from Zuko, making her smile as the door closed between them, before she turned her attention to the matter at hand; she would need to disguise herself as a guard, and hopefully act like one well enough to fool the whole prison that she wasn't an outsider. She turned back to undressing herself, taking the wipe in her hand; she quickly smudged and removed most of the make-up from her face, before using a small bit of water from her leather flask to smudge away the rest. She took her headpiece off of her forehead, setting it down on the ground beside her armour pieces, before slipping her boots off of her feet. Finally, she took her dress, untying her belt before taking it off from over her head; the green tunic she wore underneath the dress wouldn't work well with her, so she took that off too, leaving only her rather thin and revealing undergarments on. Looking at the other Kyoshi Warriors, she saw that they were as quick or quicker than her in getting undressed, already sliding the guard uniforms on. She took one of her own, taking the top and skirt that a female guard would wear, sliding them on, the outfit still revealing her midriff; it was a far more practical thing for them to wear, given that the prison was far hotter than the area outside of it. She tightened the armour pieces on over her chest and wiast before sliding the boots over her feet, finding the FIre Nation's style of footwear to be more elegant but also unusual than the style they wore on Kyoshi, with their pointed ends and overuse of metal plates.

Sawa grabbed a helmet from the ground and threw it up into the head warrior's hands, "Catch!" to which she simply smiled and nodded, confident that they had dressed themselves quickly enough.

Putting the helmet over her head, she looked to the other warriors, taking note that it obscured all their eyes and faces above their noses; their disguises were effective, though she wasn't worried about the potential of a guard recognising her. There were too many prisoners in the Boiling Rock for any given guard to recall a prisoner's face on random, especially if they weren't a trouble maker; she wondered what the Warden thought of her escape, seeing that she was the first and only prisoner to escape under his tenure of the prison. The group then walked out of the watch-house, looking to Sokka and Zuko, who were already in their own guard uniforms; the pair were relieved by the arrival of the Kyoshi Warriors, before the Water tribe teen gestured to the gondola.

"Come on, let's go! I think we can signal the to bring us down from here."

"Actually," Nakata raised a finger, almost in objection "I think a few of us should stay. Just in case anyone comes snooping around, and if we need Appa to come pick us up in the worse case scenario." she admitted, Amari raising a hand.

"As much as I'd like to bash some heads today, this is essentially a stealth mission, so I'll sit it out, make sure our prisoners don't get to rowdy." she declared, Esumi nodding along.

"I'll stay too. I don't want to be walking into another Fire Nation prison honestly, so I'll gladly take this break." she admitted with a shameful expression.

"It's okay. I understand why." Suki placed a hand on her shoulder before turning to face Sokka and Zuko, "Let's go. We can't waste any more time."

* * *

Walking out of the gondola, Zuko kept his shoulders high and his mouth shut, letting Suki do all the talking; they were guards coming to take a break and were heading down into the guard barracks. He eyed Sokka, Sawa and Nakata momentarily before his girlfriend spoke to thee supervising guard.

"Ah, finally we're back in civilisation." she sighed with a feigning of relief.

"Is upper-station duty too much for you, ma'am?" the guard asked her, making her chuckle.

"No, no. I just think it's time that we earned our break. We'll be back up at the station in a bit, don't worry." she assured him, the guard nodding, before eyeing the disguised warriors, traitor prince and Water Tribe warrior that stood before him.

"Okay, it's alright. Just don't let the Warden find out about this. He'll give you a verbal beat-down, and then some. He's been in a pretty tense mood for the past weeks."

"Ah yes, our first and only escape." she mused, the Prince refusing to laugh, knowing that the first escapee had quite literally returned how she left to the prison, dressed as a guard.

"It's shocking, I know. But the Warden's taking it too harshly. That prisoner that escaped was personally placed here by- um- the former Crown Princess." he acknowledged, Zuko tense up at the mention of his sister; he had no idea what the official story in the Fire Nation was with their betrayal of their father, but he was sure that it wouldn't have helped the image of the FIre Lord one bit- both his children betraying him to join the Avatar.

"Ah yes." Suki's voice quietened too nearly a murmur, "That's an even bigger shock, isn't it?"

The guard tensed up for a moment before nodding, "Uh, yeah. The Fire Lord doesn't technically have an heir anymore, it's a bit of a weird situation."

"Very weird situation." Zuko mumbled audibly, before stepping forward, "So are we on break, ma'am?" he asked his girlfriend, who almost looked like she would break down laughing from his acting; he wasn't that bad, he didn't think.

"Indeed we are." she declared, "Come on, the lot of you." she gestured to the rest of the group, who were rather surprised by the acting that they both put on for the guards.

Sokka paced up behind them as they walked along the walkway above the prison yard, "So, guys are we actually going to the barracks?" he asked them in a whispered voice, the head warrior nodding.

"You and Zuko can go find the rosters or whatever you need to figure our where your dad is. The warriors and I will try and pretend to be guards for a bit; come straight to the barracks when you've got the information we need." she explained to the pair of them, who nodded.

"Alright, Suki." the Water Tribe warrior nodded before looking at the Prince, "You ready to find out if my dad's here?"

"Yep." he nodded, before placing a hand on Suki's shoulder, "Good luck."

"That was my line." she shook her head, before the two boys parted ways with the Kyoshi Warriors, quickly pacing themselves toward the cell-blocks that they could access from the walkway.

Zuko gestured to their right, indicating to the large structure that he could only assume was the guard barracks, "We need to head there. There has to be some kind o office that handles who comes and goes into the prison."

Sokka nodded, and they made their way in silence, taking every stride with haste, knowing that it was only a matter of time before someone found something amiss. They made their way along past prison cells, continuing along while ignoring al the prisoners; their mission was clear, and they had to achieve their goal. Soon enough they approached the doors that led into the barracks, the guards immediately stepping aside for the pair.

"Thanks!" Sokka acknowledged their immediate movement, earning some surprise from the guards as they continued along through the now narrow hallways of the barracks.

Zuko read the titles, if there were any, on each of the doors, making sure he knew what purpose each room served; he quickly made sight of something of interest a room with a title 'Communications'. He walked over to the door, gesturing for Sokka to open it, the Prince peering in to make sure there wasn't too many people inside. To his surprise the entire room was empty, which was to their luck as they made their way inside, the Prince closing the door after them.

"Sokka, what's your father's name?" he asked the Water Tribesman in a whispered voice.

"Hakoda. Chief Hakoda." he told him in a voice that was quiet or quieter than his own; they both knew what was at stake; if they were found out, Zuko was unsure if they could even find, let alone rescue Sokka's father.

He began to scan over documents that had clearly been sent by messenger hawk to inform the prison of their incoming prisoners; he looked over a number of documents, looking back from the date of the eclipse, taking note of only one page that dated after it. Reading right down the lines, he immediately made out the name- 'Hakoda of the Water Tribe'.

"I found him." he turned to face his friend, whose eyes widened with surprise.

"Wait really?" he exclaimed, the Prince hushing him before looking back to the document.

"These prisoners are coming in by boat, but they're not expected for another day." he explained, before furrowing a brow, "We can still take plan two."

"We're going to take over a Fire Nation ship." the Water Tribesman declared, curling his lips with confidence, before he clarified to Zuko that he was ready to do just that.

"Luckily for you, I've already done that before."


	54. The Meat of Friendship and Fatherhood

_Pulling himself up from his bed Zuko wiped the sleep from his eyes, and immediately felt bile rising up from his gut; he could only half remember what happened the night prior, but he remembered enough. He swore at that moment that he would never drink bajiu again, on the threat of losing his mind to the chaos that was his own drunken thoughts. He didn't forget the promise he had made to himself in his drunken rage; Zhao would pay dearly for his words, and he would learn to fear the banished prince of the Fire Nation, no matter how far he was from being the heir he ought to be. He also knew something else to be true from his hazy memories, that being the intentions of his uncle; he didn't want the Prince to be consumed by his hatred, and neither did Zuko himself. Iroh cared about him, and he wanted him to be the best Prince he could be; he wanted to smile at the thought that for a moment, but the feeling of needing to throw up the contents of his stomach overtook that. He immediately stood up, racing over to the doorway, finding that despite the headache he could feel ringing in the back of his skull, he was more than capable of staying balanced and running down the hallway. He quickly got out onto the deck, where a few crewmen looked at him with surprise; they were probably even more surprised by him leaning over the edge of the boat and throwing up._

_"Prince Zuko? Are you okay, sir?" one of them asked him with a tone of fear, the Prince looking back at hem with a grimace._

_"I'm... uh- better than I was last night." he clarified, "You can all return to your duties. Don't worry about me." he directed them, the crewmen nodding with uneasy expressions before they walked away, leaving him alone to lean over the railing, unsure if he would throw up once again._

_He took a deep breath before nodding, feeling that he wasn't going to puke again; not that there would be anything else to come out of his stomach at that point anyway. The Prince turned his heels and walked back toward the superstructure of the ship, the crew eyeing him as he made his way along; he might have otherwise felt embarrassed, but for some reason, he felt as if a weight had been lifted off of his chest, that the ramblings he had made while intoxicated had helped him both understand himself and his place in the world. His desire to face Zhao still rang strong his in mind, but he had an even more potent calling at that very moment; he wanted to thank his uncle for helping him that night, and more so, for being a good uncle. He didn't have any other uncles or aunts, but he did have a mother and father, the former of which had disappeared years ago and the latter seemed to despise him for better or worse reasons than the other might have to disappear. He was the only family he had at that very moment, even if he'd go as far too call his relationship with Azula somewhat friendly; the beatings and mocking he received from her were barely outweighed by the training and banter they partook in. Iroh was the only one there for him for the past two years they had spent at sea, so it only made sense to Zuko had he at the very least acknowledge his hard work of dealing his fits of anger and frustration, no matter how well justified the Prince might have seen them to be._

_Approaching the door of his uncle's room, he knocked on it, calling to him, "Uncle? Are you awake?" he called in, leaning his head up against the metal door to try and hear if he was indeed awake._

_A few moments later, the door opened in front of him, making him flinch his head away from where he had been leaning it; his uncle was standing before him with a cup of tea in hand, "Ah, nephew! I see you've awaken. Did you sleep any good?"_

_"Uh... well enough," before his mind turned to the taste of bile in his mouth, "but I just had to go empty my stomach overboard."_

_"That's understandable, Prince Zuko. Did you want to refresh yourself with a nice cup of ginseng tea?" he asked the Prince, who actually decided that of all the times he could accept his uncle's offer for tea, that moment would be the best suited; making his uncle happy and getting rid of the taste in his mouth was a good justification in his mind._

_"Yeah, I'll have some." he simply nodded, before his uncle beamed at him, standing out of the way to let him enter._

_"Brilliant!" before gestured for Zuko to sit at the mall table that he had set up in the middle of the room, "Please, sit." he directed, the Prince following his words and sitting on a cushion, glancing out momentarily through the small window Iroh had in his room._

_"So... have you thought over what happened last night?" his uncle asked him as he began to pour him a cup; the aroma of the teacup made him smile, even if the actual thoughts he had were anything but happy._

_"I'm not happy with what I'm doing, Uncle. You've said it before." he acknowledged, before looking down, almost ashamed, "I know you don't want me to, but I need to face Zhao. I need to put an end to our feud."_

_"I understand, Prince Zuko. You want to leave it behind you and not let it fester like an old wound." he acknowledged, before his eyes darted up to his face, "Was there something else?"_

_"Thank you, Uncle." he simply told him, "You've been here for me this entire time, and I've failed to acknowledge it. Your counsel, however annoying at times, is appreciated."_

_"Oh." Iroh mumbled, surprised by his words, before he looked at him with a far more cheerful expression, "I am glad that you see my wisdoms worthy." he grinned, handing him his cup of ginseng tea, "Please, enjoy the tea."_

_He accepted the cup into his hands before sipping from it; he appreciated the taste, before he looked up at the man he wished he could call his own father, knowing that would make their relationship far simpler, as he would want it to be, "I don't know where I went wrong, Uncle. I know now that I need to change my perspective. Being angry all the time just... it just won't do."_

_"That is what I think too, nephew. You are wise to acknowledge your own faults, so you can improve." he smiled, before he placed a hand own on the table, holding a Pai Sho piece in his hand, "There is more to anything than what meets the eye."_

_"What do you mean, Uncle?" he asked him, genuinely curious as to what he meant by his words._

_"Just as you are not simply an angry teen on a mission to find the Avatar, I am not simply a lazy old man, even if the world sees us just as that." he smiled, the Prince's eyes narrowing in thinking what his uncle's words meant._

_"Then what are we?"_

_"That is for each and everyone of us to decide for ourselves."_

* * *

"Hey, Azula? Did you want to have lunch?"

The former Crown Princess of the Fire Nation looked up to see Aang standing in front of her; she had woken up that morning to find out that Zuko, Sokka and the Kyoshi Warriors had all left together, ostensibly to go get food, although she doubted that was the case. Although she wasn't near them during dinner the night prior, she had seen Zuko and Suki whispering amongst themselves quite intensely; whatever they were doing, she was sure it amounted to something far more important than getting some more food. She guessed that because of their current food issue, she would be eating a lunch of wild fruits and nuts, which wasn't necessarily bad, but she was far more accustomed to personally cooked Fire Nation cuisine, far more refined that what she had gotten used to eating since she was shot with lightning.

"What are we eating?" she asked in return, the Avatar scratching on his chin.

"Well... uh, Toph, what did we find in the forest?"

"Some fruits and some more fruits!" she shouted out, even though she was clearly close enough to them to not have to bellow at the top of her lungs.

"Do you feel a need to assert your authority with the volume of your voice?" she asked the blind earthbender, who made a wide grin in response.

"Sure do!" she shouted out once more, before alking off, Aang looking back at her with a cringed expression.

"Uh, so yeah, fruits. I'm sure it'll taste alright." he acknowledged, Azula slowly nodding as she tried to ease herself up to her feet.

Although Katara's healing sessions had helped, she still found herself in a decent amount of pain, which seemed to come and go in waves. It was like the burns she would receive sparring her brother, except it took far longer than an afternoon at the infirmary to recover from.

"Oh, and could you give me some instructions on some fancy firebending forms too? Iroh's kinda strict when it comes to teaching me the most basic firebending." the Avatar whispered to her, making the Princess scoff.

"Of course he is. You cannot expect to master firebending without complete control over the most basic principles." she actually agreed with her uncle, although she smirked, thinking it wouldn't hurt to show off for someone, "But I could show you a few moves."

"Great!" he beamed at her before gesturing down across the temple, "Katara and Iroh are making lunch right now, so it'll be ready to eat soon." he told her, before making a genuine, but hilarious bow toward her, "Sifu Azula."

"Ah yes, I, Azula, the Avatar's firebending tutor." she placed a hand on her chest, speaking quite sarcastically; other than supervising what her uncle and brother taught him, she hadn't actually taught Aang that much about firebending.

She assumed when it came closer to the comet, he would need to grapple more advanced forms that she herself was quite well versed in, that being in comparison to her uncle and brother, the former being a little rusty in his years of retirement and the other probably not having learned as many- he was more of a 'pick and use' kind of firebender when it came to forms and techniques.

As she approached the makeshift kitchen that had been set up around the campfire where the group would meet for meals and tea, she made sight of her uncle, who waved to her and Aang, the pair of them sitting down beside Haru, the Duke and Teo, who were all waiting for food.

"Ah, hi guys." Teo waved to them, "You here for lunch?"

Aang scratched the back of his shaved scalp, "Well, I just wanted to check if Azula wanted to join us."

"I'm not going to starve, am I?" she asked them rhetorically, earning a few laughs, which made her eyes widen with surprise.; other than Zuko, no one usually found her funny, especially in a way that wasn't mocking of her character.

She sat down beside Toph, who had walked ahead of them them to sit down; she was scratching at her nose for a moment before her expression changed, noticing that she was sitting down beside her, "Your majesty, I didn't think you'd be sitting down next to me?" she asked her, Azula rolling her eyes, realising that she was now setting herself up for all the mockery she could ever ask for.

"Well, even if I'm on the same side as him, I'm not going to sit with my uncle. I don't like him."

"You don't like him? What's not to love? He makes great tea, tells pretty good jokes and gives good advice." she argued in the retired general's favour, making her sigh.

"Even if you're... somewhat correct in your judgement, I disdain my uncle for a far more personal reason."

"Is this about Sparky?" she asked her with a raised brow, the Princess snickering at her nickname for Zuko.

"Well, once I would have said it was, but that's just an excuse at this point." she acknowledged, the small girl scratching on her chin as if she were a wisened philosopher.

"Hmph... what could you be so at odds at about?"

"Ba Sing Se." she simply put it, Toph's eyes narrowing at her.

"What, when you kicked our butts and conquered the Earth Kingdom?" she asked her, the Princess raising a finger in thought; her uncle and her were diametrically opposed at that time, but again, she was off- their conflict arose earlier, a long time earlier.

"No, not that time. Five... nearly six years ago, the great six hundred day siege of Ba Sing Se." she clarified, her voice dropping to a whisper as she tried to make sure her uncle wasn't going to here the next part of Toph's little introduction into the modern history of the Fire Nation royal family.

"Yeah, that was a pretty big deal in the Earth Kingdom; he broke through the Outer Wall and then..." she gestured her hands up as if to imitate an explosion, "Boom! The Fire Nation retreated, and the battle was won."

"Lost, for us." Azula clarified, "And that loss, it wasn't just because of anything- it was because his son died."

"In the siege." the little earthbender's eyes widened, despite the fact she couldn't see, "And he then retreated, and... wait so your dad's the Fire Lord, and Iroh's pretty old, and he's your uncle." she thought it out in her head, "But you're young... so your dad, he stole the throne?"

"Yep." Azula nodded, "That's some impressive deductive skills you've got there."

"So... you don't like him because... he isn't Fire Lord?" she asked, still sounding unsure what her big issue was.

"In part, yes, but that isn't the core of the issue. My uncle, he should have burnt Ba Sing Se to the ground for the death of his son, and then killed my father for seizing the throne. But he didn't. He was a coward."

"Maybe he didn't care about any of that anymore." Toph mused, the Princess shaking her head, responding in a whisper.

"No. He gave up his duty to serve the Fire Nation. You know who didn't give up his duty after losing everything he ever had?"

"Your brother." she answered her rhetorical question; Azula nodded before turning her eyes to look up at the man she was talking about, who seemed to have been listening.

"My niece, may I ask why you said what you just did?" he asked her.

"Well, I wanted to inform Toph here why I don't exactly like you uncle. I trust you, but I don't like you." she acknowledged bluntly, "The Sun Warrior issue has raised my opinion, but not that much."

"I don't expect you to like me. We have been enemies in one way or another for a long time." 

"I'm gonna... uh... just move somewhere else, let you two chat this out." Toph rose to her feet, speaking in a skittish voice; perhaps she didn't fear them individually, but the conflict they could stoke up, she certainly did.

"She turned her eyes to Iroh and sighed, "But Uncle, I will be candour with you. Your story, or tragedy, depending on how one looks at it, is a great inspiration to me." she acknowledged, his eyes widening with surprise.

"An inspiration?" he asked her, the Princess nodding.

"You see, all of your failures, they showed me that failures don't end everything. You can still win." she acknowledged, "and even more than that, they show me that I can't give up. If I even slip up and let my guard down for one moment, I'll be dead."

"No one's going to kill you, Azula." he assured her, the Princess shaking her head.

"I'm hedging my bets that Aang will become far more powerful than our father could ever be, but if that doesn't happen, I want to make sure this war, for the world and for the throne, ends before father can do any more harm." she told him with a serious tone, before she raised her chin, scratching at it with her nails, "I will make sure I never lose my resolve, my will to fight, because I believe in something."

"As do I, my niece." he assured her, the Princess's eyes narrowed at him.

"What is that you will fight for, Uncle?" she mused, his eyes narrowing with utter determination, the kind of look she had only seen on her brother as of late.

"To end this war... by liberating Ba Sing Se."

* * *

Watching the gondola rise up toward her and Esumi, Amari felt a sense of unease, she was unsure if it would be her friends wtih the information they needed, or a group of guards coming up to be stationed; she hoped it wasn't the latter, considering that she had already gotten a decent amount of head bonking done that morning already. She readied her hand on her fan, which she had hidden on her belt on her lower back, making sure she was ready to strike a potential enemy at a moment's notice.

Esumi looked at her with a worried glance, "What if they're still looking?"

"Then we'll have to beat up some arseholes." she acknowledged, before raising a brow, "Maybe Appa could help us, but I don't know how to call him."

"That sky-bison owes us one." she raised a finger, to which the other Kyoshi Warrior nodded, a grin forming on her face.

"Yeah, it's about time he repaid that debt in full by beating up some Fire Nation goons just for us."

As the gondola came close enough for them to view inside, the pair of them sighed with relief, making sight of the group with their helmets off; their arrival indicated one thing, seeing that no one resembling an older, bearded Sokka was on the gondola with them, that his father wasn't in the Boiling Rock. As the gondola came to a halt, the two disguised Kyoshi Warriors approached the gondola to greet their friends, who looked rather relieved to be safe, but also uneasy, seeing that their little mission didn't get them what they wanted.

"You're all back!" Esumi exclaimed with relief, racing in to hug Suki, Nakata and Sawa all at once; Amari peered her head to the side, glancing at Sokka and Zuko, who were both looking rather seriously at each other.

"So, what's next? Are we going to beat up some more soldiers?" she queried the pair, who both nodded with cringed faces.

Sokka scratched the back of his head, "Uh, yeah, I guess the next step will involve that." Zuko gesturing to the other Kyoshi Warriors.

"We're all prepared to take on what we'll have to deal with."

"That being?" the warrior prodding him further, making the Prince sigh before clearing his throat, Nakata sidestepping away from Esumi's group hug.

"Breaking into a prison ship. We won't need disguises for this next one." she clarified the facts, Amari nodding before looking back to the watch-house.

"Uh... so are we going get back into our uniforms?"

Suki stepped forward, pointing to it, "That's right, Amari. Girls! Go get changed, I want us on Appa in five!" she demanded, the warriors breaking all from their hug before they all ran off toward the watch-house, quickly filing back into the guards' restroom where they had left all of their warrior's outfits.

Amari quickly took off all her armour pieces before sliding off the grey crop-top and skirt that consisted the female guard outfit; she the slid off the metal boots, before sliding her ordinary tunic, laying it over her most basic undergarments. Taking her thick warrior's dress, she slid it over her head before pulling it down to her feet; she then grabbed her leather boots, she slid them over her feet, finding them far more comfortable than the guard's boots she had been wearing. Grabbing her armour plates, she tightened them over her shoulders and torso, before grabbing her headpiece and tying it around her head. Looking at her fellow Kyoshi Warriors, she smirked confidently, knowing that other than their make-up, they were ready to go; that last step would have to wait, seeing that leaving the island was their first priority.

"Come on girls, let's go." Suki told the group, who quickly obliged to her directions, pacing out of the watch-house with their fans on the ready; although she hadn't ask if there was any trouble down at the prison, she knew that the best warriors would prepared for a fight at any moment.

The group made it out of the watch-house, her eyes widening seeing that Appa was already waiting for them, with Sokka helping Zuko onto his saddle; the sky-bison groaned at the sight of the warriors as they paced up to his saddle, Suki kneeling in front of him, placing her hands out and offering the warriors a quick way up; Amari quickly used her offer to boost herself onto the saddle, before turning around to help Esumi climb up on after her; quickly enough, all of the warriors were on Appa's saddle, and a few moments after that, they rose up to the air with the calling from the Water Tribesman.

"Yip, yip!" he directed the sky-bison, who yawned before rising up into the air, giving them one last view of the prison before he turned around to avoid the rising steam.

"I'm not going to miss this place." Suki acknowledged, making the group snicker.

Zuko looked at her with a slight grimace, "I don't think anyone could."

After a few moments silence, Sokka clapped his hand's together with a grin, "Now, are we ready for the next step?"

"What, sneaking into another place to try and find your father?" Amari raised a brow at him, personally having had enough of their little quest, even though she was tempted to want to go fight some more Fire Nation goons and free someone who sounded like a decent and honourable man.

"Well, yes." he acknowledged in a rather awkward tone, "But it's not just that, we've got to locate this ship and try and sneak in with no detection."

"Why is that?" she raised a brow, before the Water Tribesman turned to face the Prince.

"Zuko told me so, and he rather not state his reasoning." he simply responded, although the tone of his voice indicated that he was annoyed that he had been given that specific condition to their plan with no explanation.

"We have a friend who might be on that ship." Suki told them, the warriors looking at him with surprise.

"A friend?" Nakata asked her superior, who nodded in confirmation.

"What, did you think I escaped the Boiling Rock, without any assistance?" she asked them, making the warriors look amongst themselves uneasily; they could not dare insult Suki by stating anything to the contrary of her being fully capable of escaping on her own, as she herself had broken them out of prison, "I didn't. A friend of Zuko's helped me, and in turn we are indebted to him; he now works on the prison supply ship, which for all we know could be transporting prisoners as well."

"Lieutenant Jee is owed some peace, at the very least." Zuko added, his eyes showing a sense of respect that ran deeper than most of his relationships.

"That's understandable." Sokka acknowledged, before grinning, "I'm sure we can all do another stealth mission together." before Suki grinned, looking at the other warriors, who had similar expressions.

"That's something we're more than ready to do."

* * *

As the wind flew through his hair, Zuko's eyes focused on the lights of the ship below them. The sun was low in the sky and a storm was coming through; he wasn't afraid of a little bad weather, but he was certainly dreading the idea of falling off a ship again. Sokka held onto Appa's reins tightly, trying to make sure they didn't have a rough landing, the sky-bison groaning as they neared the deck of the ship; to their luck there wasn't anyone topside, although he guessed that any sane sailor wouldn't be out in a storm. Suki glanced about the deck as they arrived before looking at him.

"This is definitely the same ship." she assured him, before she jumped off of the saddle, landing almost silently on the deck compared to the sound of wind gusts all around them.

Zuko followed down after her, stepping closer so she could hear him, "Do you know where the cells are?"

She pointed to the staircase in the centre of the deck, "Second and third decks." before she shouted out to the other warriors, "Follow me!"

The group climbed off of the sky-bison quickly following Suki's lead, who made her way down the stairs in the centre of the deck, the Prince coming in right after her; compared to the windy and chilly exterior, the interior of the ship was far warmer and to his liking, although his girlfriend found it a little too hot with her thick robes designed for Kyoshi Island. They made their way down the hallway, both of them checking the doorways as they passed them; he could hear what he assumed was crew members talking amongst themselves. He did, however, make out footsteps in the distance ahead of them; Suki grabbed him by the arm and dragged him into a cleaning closet. Standing so close to her gave him odd thoughts, but the smile on her face as she hushed him with a finger. The footsteps grew louder for a few moments before they began to recede away; then they looked at each for a moment, relieved and silent. She leaned forward and kissed his forehead making him blush before the closet doors were opened by Sokka.

"Uh, are you two alright?" he asked them, making the head warrior smirk before she shoved her boyfriend out of the closet, nearly making him trip over his own feet.

"We're fine." she assured him before glancing back at the other Kyoshi Warriors who were scanning about, "Come on, we've got to get to the stairwell."

Racing on down the hallway the group made a sharp right turn, revealing the staircase which they quickly descended; they all kept their footsteps as light as possible, all of then well aware of the threat of alerting the crew of the ship. Reaching the third deck, the head warrior pointed down the hallway to their right, gesturing for the group to go down that direction.

"Half of us will check the second and the other half the third." she ordered the group, Zuko nodding before he continued down the staircase to the second deck.

He was followed by Amari, Esumi and Sawa down to the second deck, the four of them eyeing about before Zuko gestured toward the rear of the ship, "I think it's this way."

The three of them nodded before following on after them, readying their fans; even if they didn't want to fight, they were ready for one. Stepping up toward a heavy looking metal door, Zuko slowly pulled the handle down, pushing the door slightly ajar, glancing into the next hallway, which was lined with prison cells, although not all of them seemed to be in use. He stepped into the doorway, trying to keep his footsteps as light as possible. He raised a finger to his lips to warn the girls to be quiet; the four of them began to slowly walk down through the prison brig, eyeing into each cell to try and find Sokka's father. Focusing on each of the prisoners he saw a wide variety of people about; he didn't know much about ant of the men he was looking at, but from their appearances he could tell most of them were Fire Nation criminals and street thugs. Most of the people in the Boiling Rock were either renowned criminals or dissidents, from what he could tell from the communication records, the latter of which he would desire to get out of the prison system as soon as he became Fire Lord. Suddenly he heard a metallic thumping noise, instinctively looking to Amari, who he knew was a magnet for trouble; she was looking the same way as the rest of them, down the hall.

"Wh-what was that?" Esumi mumbled, the sound of shouts and what he knew was fire blasts sounding off right below them.

"Fuck." Zuko cursed under his breath, "They better've found his dad."

He turned his heels and thrust his hand forward, the Kyoshi Warriors immediately taking the hint and running down the hallway at haste, barging through the door in a matter of seconds; some grunts and shouts indicated that they had accidentally woken the prisoners, but at the very least, they weren't the ones the four were worried about.

At the other end of the hallway by the stairs he could see Suki helping Sokka up the stairs, his girlfriend shouting out to them, "We've got to go!"

"Did you find him?" the Prince called out to her as they approached the pair before they were suddenly blocked off by a soldier who sent a fire blast at them; he cut the flames in half, dispersing them, much to the surprise of the soldier.

"What the-" he gasped in shock, before he was cut off by being struck in the back of the head; the soldier fell down face-first unconscious, revealing who knocked him out, a middle aged Water Tribe man with a beard and nape length hair tied at the top, wearing the red robes of a prisoner that the Kyoshi Warriors had been wearing when he liberated them out of prison.

"We got my dad!" Sokka raised a fist despite what looked like injuries he had received from a guard; his father looked back to him with a warm smile, before gesturing to the others to follow, "Come on guys, let's get to Appa!"

Zuko raced forward, following Suki, the Water Tribe teen and his father down the hallway, accompanied by the Kyoshi Warriors who followed from behind or up the staircase. Despite his injuries, the Water Tribe boy was going along at a fast pace, personally kicking open a doorway that they came across; what the Prince saw next was utterly shocking- Lieutenant Jee, standing with a pipa in his hand.

"Jee?" Suki questioned, utterly shocked that he was just standing before them as he was.

Stepping forward, the Prince sighed, "Don't tell me you started another music night, on this ship."

The Lieutenant made a grimace, "Uh, yeah. You kind of ruined it, Prince Zuko." he acknowledged, making Hakoda's eyes widen with surprise.

"Wait, that's Prince Zuko?" he gestured to the Prince, who was essentially dressed like a Fire Nation commoner, and a raggedy one at that, with his hair flowing down with no topknot.

"Hi." he simply waved to him, Sokka making an awkward smile.

"Uh, yeah. It's nice to greet each other and all, but we've got to escape this boat." he reminded them; he, his father and the Kyoshi Warriors raced past Suki and Zuko, who were still standing next to Jee.

"Well... uh it was nice to see you again." the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors awkwardly smiled at him, before the Prince patted him on the shoulder.

"We'll get out your hair. I just hope you stay safe." he acknowledged, the Lieutenant's eyes widening.

"Safe from what?"

"What's coming. The best outcome is the Avatar defeats the Fire Lord and I peacefully take the throne. The worst is... well, I think you can guess." he simply told him, earning a grimace from Jee, who pointed down the hallway.

"You better go. Good luck, to both of you." he fare-welled them before walking on down the hallway; Zuko looked to his girlfriend for a moment before racing on down the hallway.

Making it up the stairs, he witnessed the Kyoshi Warriors single-handedly fighting off a number of firebending soldiers that had come to the top deck to prevent their escape; the Prince spun his foot around, making a stream of flames come from his foot, sweeping all the men off of their feet. He point edto Appa's saddle, shouting out to the Kyoshi Warriors.

"Get on!" he directed them, Sokka and Hakoda helping the girls up while he and Suki faced off the soldiers, who quickly returned to their feet.

With each fluid firebending motion he struck a soldier, while Suki's rapid strikes kept the men well away from the sky-bison which was their goal. When a fire blast was aimed at the beast, Suki drew out her fan, directing the attack away; Zuko pointed up toward Appa, shouting to his girlfriend.

"Go! I'll hold them off." he assured her, the Kyoshi Warrior looking at him with a stoic and determined face, masking whatever fears she might have felt, before she raced up to the saddle before leaping on.

When another fire ball was thrown his way, the Prince caught it with his left hand, spinning around before throwing it back at the soldier who sent it his way; the soldiers looked on with fear as he redirected all of their attacks, before he sent a powerful wave of flames out at them, sending them all back along the deck. Appa groaned as he began to rise up into the sky, hearing the water Tribesman call out his name.

"Zuko! Get on!" he shouted at him, the Prince charging flames in his hands, forming two orbs that were so hot they began to singe the hair on his arms; he then directed the flames down below his feet, sending himself up into the air for a moment.

Achieving flight, however brief with his bending was one of the most awesome things he had experienced up to that point, but he was reminded rather ungracefully of his limits; he fell flat on Appa's saddle, yelping with pain as his face collided with it.

"Ow..." he groaned, before turning himself over, Sokka looking at him with surprise.

"You can fly?! That's freaking awesome!" he grinned at him, making him sigh as he dropped his head down onto the saddle.

"I've done enough fighting for one journey." he sighed, the Kyoshi Warriors snickering at the state of him, "What? Did you want to fight me?"

"No, Mr. Fire Nation Prince, we do not." Esumi assured him with a smirk, making him clench his fists, turning around to face Suki, who was rather surprised from the turn of events.

"That was pretty impressive, Zuko." she conceded, making him chuckle.

"If I can fly for a few seconds, I'm afraid what my sister might be able to do."

"Fly all the way back to the palace to fight your father again?" she joked making him roll her eyes.

"That would be impressive." he raised a finger to clarify his own opinion on the matter; he sighed as he thought back to his brief conversation with Jee, "I really do hope we win."

She looked at him with a grimace, turning her eyes back down to the ship as it receded from view, "I don't know what will we do if we don't."

They both knew what was at stake with everything they were doing; assuming that everything would go to plan was foolish at best and idiotic at worst. From what he had heard of the luck of 'Team Avatar', they didn't seem to be looked upon very kindly by whatever spirits determined that kind of thing. That luck would hopefully change, and with all his allies on side, he knew that they might have a real chance to finally stop his father, and the hundred years of bloodshed that had cost the world so much. He knew what he had to do do, reminded by what his sister had said after they learned the truth of firebending from Ran Shaw; they would redeem the Fire Nation, and fix the world, together.

* * *

"We're back, guys!"

Suki peered over the saddle, wiping the sleep from her eyes as she looked down at the Western Air Temple, which was just as impressive as it was the first time she saw it; as Appa came down to land, she made out the numerous members of their group coming out to greet them. Aang, Katara and Toph stood waving at them as they came down to land, approaching the sky-bison with surprise. The most obvious reaction was the Water tribe girl, who began to cry with happiness upon seeing her father, hugging him as soon as he climbed off of the saddle.

"Dad!" she exclaimed, hugging him with a grin, before he responded him with a warm and caring smile.

"Hi, Katara." he addressed her, before she looked up at him.

"How are you here? What's going on? Where did you go?" she asked Sokka and the rest of them, who were still climbing off of Appa's saddle.

"We kind of went to a Fire Nation prison, and then we borke into a boat and found Dad!" he explained, his tone growing brighter as he went along; the three of them hugged each other making, Suki smile as she instinctively grabbed Zuko's hand.

"I'm happy for them." she spoke what was on her mind, the Prince nodding with agreement.

"Me too. They deserve this." he acknowledged, before his eyes darted to their right, seeing Azula sitting by the campfire with the others, "I- uh- we should probably see how Zula's doing."

"Yeah, she might have gotten a little better since we left." she acknowledged, before turning tof ace the Kyoshi Warriors, "Girls, you're officially on break. No more work for today!" she shouted out almost giddily, the Kyoshi Warriors grinning confidently.

"Oh yeah!" Nakata raised a fist, "Let's get some tea!"

Zuko's eyes widened at the mention of the delicious substance that they all enjoyed, "Huh, that's a good idea."

"Hey, did you guys get any food?" Toph asked them, the Kyoshi Warriors looking amongst themselves, Amari hammering a fist into her open palm.

"Damn it, that was something we could've stolen." she grumbled, before her eyes darted to the small Earth Kingdom girl, "Sorry, Toph. We don't have any food."

"Aw man... Sokka?! You know how to hunt, don't you?!" she almost shouted at the Water Tribe boy, using her earthbending to drag him closer when he was unresponsive.

"Argh! Toph! Was that really necessary?" he snarled at her, obviously shaken by her quick use bending to make sure he listened to her.

"Yes, it was." she declared, pointing a finger on his sternum, "I'm not eating wild fruits and nuts for another day. We need some actual food."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll go do some hunting. Maybe Dad can help? Dad?! Do you want to go hunting?!" he asked of his father, who looked back at him with confusion; Suki rolled her eyes at the antics before her, following Zuko over to the campfire, where he came to sit down beside his sister.

"Hey, Zula? How are you feeling?" he asked his sister, who looked up at him with a rather uneasy face.

"He's gone." she mumbled, making the leader of the Kysohi Warriors and her boyfriend look at each other with confusion.

"Sorry... what?" she asked the Princess, unsure exactly who she was talking about; her eyes darted around, and realised there was only one member of their group that wasn't present- Iroh.

"Uncle's gone? Where?" Zuko asked her, the Princess sighing, before looking at him with a conflicted glance, seeming to be the least confident look she had seen on Azula since she was nearly killed by her father.

"He told me not to tell you," she admitted, "because he wants you to stay here with the Avatar."

"What?!" her brother shouted at her, now sounding rather offended, "Why would he leave? Training Aang is the most important thing we could be doing!"

"I told him the same thing, but I couldn't stop him. He's rather set in his ways, that old fool." she lamented with a tone of frustration that showed Suki that she must have felt some kind of bond with her uncle, despite how much she ragged on about him; she knew that from Zuko's own descriptions of her as well as the interactions she had witnessed herself.

The Prince placed a hand on his sister's shoulder, "Please. Zula, you need to tell me where he's gone."

She looked at him with a grimace, before her eyes moved down to the campfire in front of them, which Suki noticed had begun to flicker blue, "If our Uncle is the hero of his own story, he's about rewrite his fate from that of a tragedy to that of a dramatic comedy of fate." she suggested making the Prince's eyes widened.

"Dramatic comedy of fate... you're not talking about what I think you are, are you?" he asked her with a serious face, the Princess shrugging her shoulders.

"I'm not going to be explicit about anything, because I promised Uncle that." she simply refuted his question, before his eyes turned to Suki.

"I think my Uncle's going to... well, he's going to something in Ba Sing Se."

Her eyes narrowed, remembering a story from Zuko about how his uncle had led the siege there, something she already knew of generally from the news that arrived at their island, although the battle itself had taken place many years prior.

"Iroh commanded the siege that failed, what was it, five years ago... and you're saying that failure is going to be rewritten." she suggested to Azula, who simply curled her lips.

"So?" she prodded an answer out of the pair, the Prince cutting to the chase.

"He's going to liberate Ba Sing Se from the Fire Nation." he simply concluded, the Prince chuckling at hi.

"Well, brother, I must say, you have shown that you are quite good at deduction. That's a good skill to have once you take the throne." she congratulated him, Suki raising a brow in thought

"Sorry... I don't mean to deride the awesome power of 'the Dragon of the West' but how exactly can one man conquer an entire city."

"Sozin's Comet." Zuko immediately answered her question, "It's what- two weeks away? If he used the power of the comet, he could probably blast his way into the city." he acknowledged, before he furrowed a brow, "Even then, there's no way that he could defeat the entire Fire Nation garrison and the Dai Li."

"Well, brother..." Azula raised a finger to her chin, making Suki and her boyfriend roll their eyes simultaneously, knowing that she was going to give him a riddled answer to his question, "Didn't you tell me that the lotus tile meant nothing?"

Zuko grimaced, making the Kyoshi Warrior raise a brow at his unease, "What is it, Zuko?"

"The Pai Sho people... the Pai Sho people are going to conquer Ba Sing Se." he mumbled to himself with a tone of disbelief.

"That's not what they're called, Zuzu. Although, they are meant to be a secret society, after all." she admitted, making Suki snicker, thinking abut the absurdity of it.

"And where has this secret society that can somehow conquer Ba Sing Se been this entire time while the world has been at war?" she questioned Azula, whose smug grin was undeniably justified; even when she was on the side of the Fire Nation's war, at the very least she was actually doing her job, while this secret society had been doing nothing, it seemed, to actually stop the Hundred Year War.

"Probably playing Pai Sho, the lazy bastards."


	55. Out of Hatred and Love

_Walking down along toward the throne of the Fire Lord, Iroh sighed, although he was unsure anyone could hear him; he was tired, and he had to fulfil one formality that he dreaded, to face his younger brother, who was now the Fire Lord. Ozai seemed ever so smug and regal on his throne, and Iroh might have once wanted to offer him advice on how to run their nation, but he knew that he would never have a bar of it; his brother was so self-assured and confident, that he would never consider the thoughts over anyone except himself. He was truly rotten to the core, and it had taken him too long to realise it. He made sight of his niece and nephew cowering behind a pillar, but he didn't make any motions to indicate that he knew that they were there; he remembered that Ozai himself had once snuck into the throne room to watch their father's meetings as a young boy and he had to reprimand him for it. He would not do the same for his niece and nephew however, knowing that they were probably just curious to see what would happen; he knew nothing would truly come of his encounter with his brother, as he had already made up his mind as soon as he found out of his father's demise. The throne even if it was rightfully his, would not be something he would seek out; Zuko was Crown Prince, and that fact at the very least assured him that his nation wasn't completely doomed with his brother's ascension to the throne._

_He walked up toward him, getting close enough to stop, where he stood before him silently; part of Iroh wanted to shout at him and call out his actions. He wasn't sure what happened to their father, but he was more than certain Ozai had had something to do with it. Lady Ursa was gone just the same, and he hoped that she had not truly been killed by her own husband of all people; she didn't deserve that, neither did her children deserve to have that happen to them. Eventually their moments of silence and staring were broken by the Dragon of the West forcing himself to a bow, a position of submission; he hated the feeling, knowing that his brother was undeserving of receiving the respect he was giving him. He knew that their father had ignored him for the most part and treated him lesser because of his position as the second son, but he that that treatment couldn't justify his actions; to become Fire Lord, to have most likely ordered their own father's death, to probably have exiled his wife._

_"Have you come to pay your respects to the Fire Lord, brother?" he asked of him, who was forced to look up at him._

_"Yes, your majesty." he told him in as calm a tone as possible, before the Fire Lord looked at him with a smug smile, feeling rather confident in himself; he might have thought his brother would have come back to murder him in an Agni Kai, and even Iroh could admit, if everything he believed was the truth of the matter, he might have considered it._

_After a few moments of silence, the Fire Lord responded to his deference, "Brother, I welcome you back to the Fire Nation. Please, feel free to return to your quarters. They are as you left them." his brother told him with a rather plain voice, although he could tell that Ozai was trying to sound a sincere as possible; he wasn't sincere, he was gloating over his victory, as he could obviously tell, "My condolences to your loss, I remember father was quite distraught when he heard the news of Lu Ten's passing."_

_Iroh tensed up at the mention of his son, knowing that Ozai had literally taken the throne because of his beloved Lu Ten's death; the thought of it made him want to kill the man before him, but he relented in those feelings. His son did not 'pass' into death, either, he was killed in the thick of battle, fighting for his nation, just as he, his father, had told him was honourable to do; Iroh knew he was wrong, he was so wrong, and he could never forgive himself for it. The spirits must have lied to him in giving him his vision of conquering Ba Sing Se, just to mock him as it was really the path to his greatest loss. As much as he wanted to, he didn't end a lightning bolt into his bastard of a brother's chest, because he knew that he was better than that; Lu Ten was better than that, and he would live every following day to honour his son's life, a life where he didn't have to be General Iroh, the Dragon of the West, where he could be a man who simply loved life, and loved his son with all his heart, even if he was no longer with him._

_"I have returned because I am at peace with my loss." he spoke, his words the most honest he had spoken to his brother since he entered the throne room; even with the boiling anger than he was forced to keep down, he had returned to the capital, to his family, because he wanted that peace he desired, "I only hope to serve you as best I can, Fire Lord Ozai." he lied once more, dropping his head down to continue bowing._

_Although the throne room was silent for a while other than the murmured voices of his niece and nephew that he could hear behind him, the next few moments felt like they lasted forever; Iroh wanted many things, and some of those he was forced to deny himself, such as to seek justice for his own honour. He knew there was one thing he could do as he returned, and that was to help his niece and nephew; their father was a horrible man, and he guessed that he was just as a bad a father; he would teach Zuko, and if she would let him, Azula as well, because they deserved to be able to find their own destinies. Their innocence was heartening, and he didn't want them to become like he and Ozai, who despised each other, perhaps his brother to him more than the other way around, but nonetheless the animosity was mutual. As much as it pained him to do so, he would not betray the ideals of his father and grandfather, not until his niece and nephew could see the lies themselves._

* * *

Feeling the ground shake below him, Zuko's eyes widened, realising that something was wrong; the sun was barely up, and he was guessing whatever was making the shaking he felt below him, it wasn't Toph or Haru doing some earthbending. Pulling himself up, he glanced momentarily to Suki, who had been sleeping beside him, her eyes narrowing as she instinctively grasped a fan that she had left by her sleeping bag.

"What's going on?!" he turned his head to Aang, who was using his staff to airbend something away from them; the Avatar momentarily glanced his way, shouting out in response.

"Airships!" he told him, before making a massive gust of wind to close all of the doors that surrounded the area in which they were sleeping.

He heard a very distinctive groan of frustration behind him, coming from Amari, "You're telling me I didn't destroy them?!"

"The Fire Nation has engineers to fix them, moron." Azula rose up from her sleeping roll purely to hurl an insult.

As he rose to his feet, he heard the sound of stone shattering above him, the roof crumbling before his very eyes; he took note that Katara, who was still dazed, right underneath them.

The Prince broke into a sprint, throwing her out of the way, "Watch out!" he shouted, before the pair of them rolled across the floor, narrowly missing being crushed by the piece of the ceiling that fell down.

"You didn't need to tackle me." she grumbled, the Prince shrugging his shoulders as he got up, offering her a hand up.

"I'll take that as a thank you." he simply acknowledged, not appreciating her dour mood after he quite literally saved her from being crushed; his head turned around to take note of a tunnel that was being carved by Haru and Toph.

"Come on, we can get out through here!" she pointed wont he tunnel, the group quickly picking up all of their things that they had sitting around; although it only took a few moments, Zuko feel a sense of unease as he heard more explosions all around them.

"We need to get to our airship." Suki declared, before gesturing to the group, "That'll fit us all easily."

The group all began to move on toward the tunnel, bar Azula, who simply stood looking out at the holes in the doors, obviously lulling over what to do, and Appa, who was refusing to go into the tunnel.

"Zula, what are you doing, we need to go!" he demanded of his sister, who eyes darted back to him, looking rather angry.

"We're not going to let them, brother. We need to write our wrongs." she told him, making him face-palm with frustration as he approached her.

"We're not going to do that by facing off a bunch of airships." he told her, the Princess raising a finger.

"They need a distraction to escape, otherwise our airship will be destroyed." she argued, before using firebending to open the doors before them, revealing the airships, "And brother, I am the master of distracting the enemy." she told him, before she spun her fingers around, sending a bolt of lightning into the bridge of one of the airships.

The sight sent a chill down Zuko's spine, as he watched the airship careen out of control, colliding with the one beside it; that'd didn't stop any of the airships from firing on the Western Temple, Zuko using his firebending to try and deflect the explosives away, to little effect, the dust and smoke from the explosions obscuring his view for a moment as he tried to disperse the debris with his firebending. The ground shook violently beneath them, as his eyes moved about, he noted a pillar nearby began to shatter, falling to the side, right toward his sister.

"Watch out!" he exclaimed, Azula's eyes darting to the pillar, after which she hastily she rolled out of the way to avoid it as it fell down onto the platform.

She got up and looked back up at the airships, her glare seemingly indomitable, even though he could tell she was probably as afraid as he was feeling. He had to do something, and his mind sped over the possibilities; he had an idea, although if he were to be completely honest, it was a stupid one. He charged up flames in his hands, before beginning to race forward, using his firebending to send two powerful streams behind him, speeding up his sprint as he made a break for the edge of the temple's platform.

"What are you doing?!" he heard his sister exclaim with a tone of shock, witnessing him use his firebending to propel himself up into the air; as he flew mid-air up above one of the airships, he charged lightning in his fingers, aiming a bolt right beneath his feet, which made an explosion that burst right through the frame of the airship.

Landing on top of the airship, he began to send streams of fire into the hole he created, the inferno beginning to slowly, but surely rip the airship apart from the inside as it's frame buckled from the damage it had already received; a few moments later he saw a blue stream of flames in the corner of his eyes, then the sound of feet landing beside him. Azula looked at him with a frustrated glare, before sending a stream of flames at the airship beside them, which had collided with the one they were presently on due to her destruction of the bridge and the airship's controls.

"I'll be honest, I'm kind of impressed." she admitted to him as she brunt away at the exterior shell of the other airship; the sound of an explosion below their feet made them lose their footing, Zuko grasping his sisters hand to make sure she didn't accidentally slide down the side of the airship.

"Zula!" he shouted, using both hands to pull her up as he felt the airship begin to unnaturally tilt to one side; her eyes darted about, making a smirk as a metallic scraping noise filled the air, the two airships beginning to properly crash into one another.

"Now, brother, that's our cue to leave." she took note of their lowering altitude, the two siblings looking back across to the Western Air Temple, before racing up toward the front of the airship, propelling themselves with bending in synchronisation; if it weren't for the dire situation he would have thought their feat of firebending was pretty amazing, but he was far more concerned with actually getting himself to land back up on the temple proper.

The pair flew through the air, continuing to firebend as they neared the edge of the temple; Zuko ended up rolling along the rough surface he landed, while his sister far more skilfully touched down on her feet. When he rose to his feet, slightly pained, all he could her was the sound of explosions and roaring flames in the distance, as well as the distinctive sound of his sister cackling; usually he'd be afraid of that laughter, but seeing that it was in celebration of their mutual victory, he found it to be rather reassuring.

"Ahaha! Take that! Face the superior power of our firebending!" she declared with her arms out wide, flames in her hands.

However, a few moments later, his sister's declaration of victory was cut short by the edge of the platform beginning to crumble, making her eyes widen with shock as she turned, attempting to get off before the ground fell below her. She leapt forward, but was cut short making it onto the more solid portion, her right hand reaching out to grasp the ledge as the ground below her disappeared, falling down into whatever lay below them. Zuko was quick enough to grasp her hand, and quickly began to pull her up before he realised that the ground he was standing on was also about to fall to pieces; thinking there was only one thing he could do, he grabbed his sister's hand with both is hands, lifting her up and throwing her over his shoulder, a move that was assisted by Azula propelling herself with firebending; she rolled on the ground behind him, before the ground below him began to shatter; he used his firebending to push himself up into the air, but it was not much help as a pillar began to fall down right on top of him; instead of trying his luck to reach the others, he used his firebending to push himself off into the air, letting himself go into free-fall.

"Zuko!" he heard his sister scream out his name her arm reached out in his direction, despite the fact she couldn't reach him; although he knew he would probably hit whatever ground or water lay below him quite harshly, he knew that his firebending could soften the fall enough to let him make it out alive. He grimaced as he refused to scream, feeling the wind hit his skin as the temple's edge became smaller and smaller in his field of view, replaced by the cliff face and open sky that surrounded him.

Suddenly however, he found himself grasped by the arms, and his eyes darted to the side to see that he was being held by Aang, who struggled to keep both of them in the air on his glider, "Zuko! Hang on!" he told him, before he flew up back toward the temple, landing on the platform in a matter of seconds; his eyes darted about, seeing that everyone had already escaped, bar Sokka, Toph and Katara, who were sitting on Appa, ready to escape on the sky-bison's back.

A few moments later his sister appeared into view, racing toward him with a relieved face, "You nearly got yourself killed, you idiot!"

"Come on, guys! Get on Appa! We've got to get out of here!" Aang shouted with a clearly fearful tone, the sound of explosions still shaking the temple as one of the airships remained to fire upon them.

Zuko raced up over to Appa, Sokka offering a hand to him he up on, before Azula leaped on after him; with everyone aboard, Toph bent a large defensive wall of stone around the front of the sky-bison, everyone looking to Aang with a cringed look, knowing how close the entire temple was to falling to apart on top of them.

"Let's go." he declared, before calling on his beast, "Yip, yip!"

Appa groaned before he bgean to move forward, Toph using her earthbending to clear them a path before they burst out of the rubble, now being fired upon by men from the remaining airship; Azula flared her teeth with frustration, standing up before she sent a stream of flames at their enemies as they flew on past. The firebenders moved back away from her bending, giving the group the opportunity to fly up on away from the temple and out of the airship's range.

"We did it!" Toph exclaimed with glee, "Take that airships!" she clenched a fist.

Zuko lay himself back on the saddle, sighing with relief, "I'm not going to try that again."

"No kidding." Aang mumbled, "Since when could firebenders fly?"

"That's been a technique around longer than you were frozen." Azula smirked, before eyeing her brother with suspicion, "Why was that the first thing you concluded to do?"

"Well I tried it a few days ago when we were freeing Sokka and Katara's dad from prison, and I thought it would be easier to attack the airships head on." he explained himself, his sister rolling her eyes.

"Impressive, but stupid. Did you forget the ravine beneath us, Zuzu?"

"No." he confirmed, trying to ignore the snickering over his nickname that was occurring on the saddle.

"Anyway... uh- thanks for that." the Avatar smiled at them, before his eyes darted forward toward Appa's reins, "Now, where are we going to meet up with the others?"

Sokka pulled out a map at once placing down between them, "First, we'll meet up on this uninhabited island I spotted, not that far to the east of here." pointing to the small island, before he scratched at his chin, "But, we do need to find some place the Fire Nation won't find us."

Zuko mulled over the thought for a moment before curling his lips, "Hey, Zula. Where would the Fire Lord never want to ever go again?" he asked his sister rhetorically, knowing she'd know the place; she chuckled at the thought, before pointing down toward Ember Island on the map.

"Our family's beach-house." she simply pointed out.

"Wait... excuse me?" Katara's eyes mumbled, "You do realise how stupid that sounds, right?"

Her brother nodded with agreement, "Yeah, guys. I've had some pretty dumb ideas in my time, but hiding in the holiday house of the guy who wants us all dead is something that even I couldn't come up with."

"That's where you're wrong." Azula pointed at him accusingly, "The Fire Lord would never want to go back to that place, and since it's unoccupied, there's no one there to protect it or check up on it."

"This still sounds like a crazy idea." Aang piped up, before Toph raised a finger.

"I, for one, would like to mock the Fire Lord by sleeping in his bed." she grinned, the Princess placing a hand on the little earthbender's shoulders.

"Where we're going, that is a possibility."

* * *

Suki's eyes brightened as she made sight of Zuko, who was sitting by the campfire with Sokka, Toph, Katara and Aang; when he saw her, his own expression grew happier. Although they had only been apart for a day, when they landed at the island, she was unsure if Zuko was okay; all she knew that he and Azula had gone off to fight off the airships, while she, the Kyoshi Warriors, Hakoda, Teo, Haru and the Duke took their airship to fly off, later following Appa to a small, rocky island to the south-east of the Western Air Temple. She guessed that the camp that they had set up would be for a single night, seeing that the Fire Nation would still be hunting them down. She just hoped that Iroh was okay, after he had left the temple a day earlier; it wasn't likely, seeing that the 'Pai Sho secret society' had helped him, but she knew that there was a possibility he had been captured. She knew that would hurt Zuko anymore than any physical injury might, knowing how long he had waited to free his uncle from imprisonment, and how bad he had felt when he found out he left.

"Hey guys." she waved to the group, whose eyes turned to her, barring Toph who simply tilted her head up.

"Oh, hey Suki." Sokka addressed her, "We're glad that you and the others go here alright. That last airship didn't give you much trouble, did it?"

"No, no. I'm assuming Zuko and Azula took care of the other ones." she intrigued herself, the Prince smirking proudly.

"Yes. Yes we did." he declared, before all of the group raised their teacups.

"Well, thanks for saving us today." Aang acknowledged, "To Zuko and Azula!" he cheered, the rest of the group cheering with him.

"Speaking of which... where is her royal highness?" she asked them, their eyes darting to Zuko, who gestured to a nearby tent.

"She went to sleep early. She's not exactly in the best mood." he admitted, the Kyoshi Warrior narrowing her eyes.

"Huh... do you know why?" she asked, Aang clearing his throat.

"Well, if it weren't for me, Zuko would have kinda fallen to his death." he admitted, making her eyes widen at her boyfriend.

"What?!" she exclaimed, her jaw dropping with shock, "Why?"

"I can explain it!" Zuko assured her, "The platform was collapsing, and I would have been crushed. I was going to use firebending to soften the fall, and hope that Azula would direct the others to come pick me up." he explained to her, not making her feel any more comfortable with what he did.

"Are you actively trying to get into danger or something?" she questioned him accusingly, the group cringing as they realised they had become witness to a couple fighting.

"N-no, no! I wanted to make sure you could all escape. The only reason it happened was because I had to help Azula up; she nearly fell off the ledge." he furthered, making her expression change to a grimace; she regretted her outburst immediately, realising why he had done it.

"I- sorry..." she mumbled, "I just want you to be safe."

"I know that. I feel the exact same way." he admitted, standing up to approach her, before they hugged each other.

After their few moments of embrace, Suki turned to the group, feeling bad about how she had acted in front of them, "Sorry, guys... I didn't mean to make everything all awkward."

"Nah, it's fine. Didn't know a non-bender could be that scary when they're angry." Toph admitted, making her furrow a brow, realising she was indirectly calling all non-benders passive and weak.

"Thanks..." she mumbled with a rather snide glare that she was sure that the blind girl couldn't see, before she turned to face the rest of the group, "So, are we going to make some dinner?"

"Oh... yeah!" Sokka's expression brightened, "What do we have?"

"Some left over rations on the airship, and whatever you guys stored on Appa's saddle." she noted with a unsure face, thinking that they mightn't have much to eat.

"Well, maybe we can go for a little hunt, for old times sake?" Zuko suggested, the warrior chuckling before raising a brow.

"Isn't this island tiny though? How are we going to find anything big enough to feed us all?"

"I'm sure there's some wild fruits or something. We practically lived off that kind of stuff when we travelling around the Earth Kingdom." Katara noted, the sound of footsteps approached behind; Suki's eyes darted back to take note of the Kyoshi Warriors and the others coming toward their campfire.

"Hey everybody!" Teo waved as he rode his wheelchair up toward them, before he scanned his eyes around the campfire, "Huh... are we just not eating tonight?"

"That's what we were just talking about." Sokka sighed, looking rather disgruntled about not having anything to eat.

"We could go fishing, Sokka." his father entered the conversation, making Katara snicker.

"Ah, yes. We had a very productive fish the last time we went out." she sarcastically mocked her brother, who rolled his eyes, before grinning.

"Well, it was actually productive, seeing that we found the Avatar!" his tone rose, making the others laugh at him.

"So..." Toph scratched her chin, "You went fishing and came back with the Avatar."

"And Appa. He's the only reason we got back to the village." the Water Tribe warrior raised a finger.

"Son... what exactly happened that day?" Hakoda asked him with a rather worried face.

"Well... we crashed our boat, then Katara got angry, broke up an iceberg, and out popped Aang." he explained, the Water Tribe chief's eyes widening with shock.

"You're telling me the only reason you didn't freeze out there was because you found the Avatar?" he asked him, the two Water Tribe siblings looking at each other, their expressions tensing as they probably considered the consequences of what happened that day.

"Uh... thanks, Aang." Sokka gave his friend a thumbs up, the Avatar slapping him on the back.

"No worries, Sokka!" he grinned, before the Water Tribesman turned around to call out to the sky-bison that was sitting nearby.

"And thanks, Appa, you giant fur-ball!" he shouted out to Appa, which groaned in response to the attention coming his way.

"Our giant fur-ball." his sister raised a finger, making the group laugh in unison, even Hakoda's uneasy expression faltering as he joined in.

Suki's glance turned to Zuko, who she gestured to with a tilt of the head, suggesting that they leave and talk; he seemed to get the message, standing up and walking with her away from the campfire. He looked at her with a rather warm expression, hugging her as soon as he got close enough.

"I'm sorry for acting like an idiot this morning." he told her, the warrior shaking her head.

"It's okay, really. You saved your sister, honestly, I'm more proud than I am angry." she admitted, touching his unscarred cheek, "I think we should go find some food. We can't expect to feed everyone here with just a few measly rations alone."

"I know. I'm sure the girls will be excited to show off their talents." he acknowledged, before they both heard a groan behind them; thinking it was an animal, she immediately drew out one of her fans.

"What was that?" she asked, before she got a verbal response from the thing that made the sound; it wasn't just any animal it was Zuko's sister.

"What's with all the laughing? Did Sokka do something stupid again?" Azula mumbled, revealing herself from the shadows, only wearing her tunic and some pants, her collarbone length black hair flowing down over her face, obscuring it mostly.

"Uh... nope." her brother answered her question, "Did you have a good sleep?"

"U-uh... not really." she admitted, she she moved her hair out of her face, "I'm hungry."

"So is everyone else." Suki simply relayed the facts as she saw it, the Princess chuckling, pulling out a blade from her belt, that Suki immediately recognised as Zuko's dagger.

"Well let's find some damn jackalopes or whatever cretins live on this island and eat them." she declared, the Kyoshi Warrior eyeing her boyfriend.

"Uh... how did she even get the dagger?" she asked him, the Prince scratching at his chin, before he pointed at Azula.

"Did you steal that off me?" he asked her, the Princess shrugging her shoulders.

"Well, if you count stealing as picking it up off the ground when you nearly left it at the Western Air Temple stealing... then yes."

"Uh... thanks." her brother made a curt smile at her, "I was pretty shocked after my fall, something as small as a dagger was pretty easy to forget."

Azula feigned shock, "Brother, you don't mean to tell me that you have finally forsaken your keepsake blade to I, your beloved sister?" she jokingly asked of him, making the Kyoshi Warrior snicker at her response.

"I'm sure it's just as important him as always, even if he was acting a little forgetful."

"Well seeing that you like it so much, I guess that we can share it." Zuko suggested to his sister, who looked back at him with a surprised face, this time a little more genuine than the last.

"How noble of you, Zuzu." she congratulated him with a sarcastic bow, "So are we going to go hunting or what?"

Both Suki and her boyfriend nodded to each other, before she faced Azula, "Please refrain from hunting us. I know you're very capable of doing it."

"That's right, and I'm willing to do it again if need be... for more altruistic reasons."

* * *

"Aha! We got something!"

Katara rolled her eyes at her brother as she looked up from the campfire, seeing him holding some kind of bush in his hands; she expected him to go hunting with the Kyoshi Warriors, not just come back with a bush of all things.

"A bush? How exactly a bush going to help us alleviate our hunger?" she questioned him, her brother's eyes narrowing at her.

"What, this? Oh no, this is clipping of a tea bush that Zuko wanted me to carry." he clarified, before gesturing to the Kyoshi Warriors behind him, who held up a pole lined with the carcasses of butchered small birds, looking a bit like the arctic chicken that they would eat at the South Pole, but a fair bit more lean, "That's our dinner!"

"It turns out birds are very easy to kill with firebending." Azula declared proudly, before the Water Tribe boy piped up.

"Hey that's not wholly true. Boomerangs and fans helped too." he clarified, the Kyoshi Warriors nodding along.

"Yeah, don't get too cocky with your fireballs." the girl she remembered to be called Amari mocked the Princess, who eyed her with an aggrieved glare.

"Uh... what about me?" Aang piped up beside her, obviously not wanting to eat bird meat as a vegetarian.

"You can eat some of the airship rations. I assure you, they don't taste as bad you'd think." Zuko suggested, the young airbender smiling.

"Thanks, I'll uh... go help myself to it." he admitted, probably quite hungry as the sun had already set an hour or so earlier; they hadn't eaten anything other than few measly bits of berries and nuts left over in Appa's saddle since they woke up.

She turned her eyes to the birds as they were put up on a spit over the fire, which Sokka and Zuko quickly put up; the smell of the meat as the birds began to cook made her lick her lips. She wasn't her brother, but she could admit that when she was hungry as she was, she'd like meat as much as he did.

"So... what's next?" Toph raised a brow, the question obviously directed to her brother, who despite acting like an idiot sometimes, was their go-to plan guy.

"Next?" Sokka raised a brow, "Well other than hijacking the Fire Lord's vacation home as our next hideout, uh... well, I guess Aang just needs to work on his bending." he admitted, his eyes darting about as he realised the Avatar wasn't amongst them at that moment.

"That's true." the earthbending girl grinned, "Katara, you think we can beat him into shape so he's ready to pummel the Fire Lord."

"As long as I get called Sifu Katara, I'll make sure the job gets done." she referenced the frustrating fact that Aang regularly referred to Toph and Zuko by the title Sifu but refrained from doing the same with her; she was unsure if it was for familiarity reasons or not, but even it was, Katara found herself offended nonetheless- she was just as a much a master to him as other two were.

"Of course, you are a master waterbender, are you not?" TOph asked her almost skeptically, making her narrow her eyes at him, thinking she might be trying to prod her into a fight.

"Did you want to... Never mind- I'm not sparring anyone until I get my dinner, but even then, I'm going to bed."

"What a party pooper." the blind girl grumbled, making Sokka snicker, making a sound that imitated defecation with his mouth.

"Yep, a spar-ty pooper." he joked, making her reach for her water pouch, almost instinctively.

"I can still cover you with snowballs, even in this weather." she warned him, making everyone else laugh, especially her father, who probably reminisced fondly on memories of their little play-fights when they were young.

As everyone sat around the campfire, and Aang returned with his own food, the group began to discuss things amongst themselves; she mostly focused on talking with Toph, seeing that arguing with her was actually the best way to waste her time while she waited for their dinner to cook.

"Sugar Queen, you seem like you're in a bad mood." she prodded Katara, making the Water Tribe girl sigh, knowing that she was simply tired and hungry just like the rest of them.

"No. I'm hungry-angry. Hangry." she clarified, making Toph snicker.

"Well that's still a bad mood. I'm sure it'd be improved if you had already gotten a life-changing field-trip with Zuko." she suggested, making her raise a brow, as well making out a snicker from both Suki and Azula.

"Life-changing field-trip?" she asked her, the little earthbender nodding.

"I remember how Aang would whine on about not being able to firebend-" she referenced, being cut off by the person she was insulting.

"Hey, I was not whining! I just didn't trust myself to do it."

"You were kinda whining." Sokka admitted, "Even though I agreed, jerkbending's a thing you needed to defeat the Fire Lord. Whining isn't going to stop the Fire Lord." he clarified, making Aang twitch with annoyance; Katara thought he might have a go at her brother, but the Princess called him out from across the campfire before the Avatar had a chance.

"Jerkbending?" Azula questioned him from across the campfire, "I'll make your head jerk back with a good old singing of the eyebrows." she filled her hand with blue flames, only to be stopped by her brother.

"Now is not the time, Zula." he chided her, before Toph cleared her throat, taking that as her signal to continue.

"The point is, he had a problem, and Zuko helped him overcome it... Iroh and Azula helped too, but Sokka's field-trip had Zuko as well, and look what he got: your dad!" she gestured to her father dramatically, who was surprised by being brought up in the conversation.

"Thanks for that again." he nodded at Zuko and the Kyoshi Warriors, whose expressions all brightened at the recognition they received.

"So... I'm thinking you're going to have one too." Toph suggested, the Water Tribe girl's eyes widening at the thought; she didn't know what the Prince of the Fire Nation could show her or take her to that would some how change her life.

"Oh, well..." she mumbled, "I don't even really need anything. Other than maybe better food, but I'm pretty sure we'll have that at Ember Island."

Azula piped up with a genuine smile, "Vacation food... it is quite delicious." she raised a finger, confirming her suspicions.

"Come on!" Toph prodded her with a light punch to the shoulder, "There has to be something that you want, or... need. Something important; firebending and friendship are two things that you aren't in need of at the moment."

"Well yeah, I can't firebend, and I'd say I have pretty good friends." she admitted, before momentarily eyeing Azula, who if she were to be completely honest, didn't exactly trust; she didn't suspect that the Princess had any remaining loyalty to her father, Fire Lord Ozai, but that didn't make her a good person, not in the slightest.

Thinking about the Fire Nation and bad people to her was like thinking about the same thing, and her eyes immediately darted up to her father, considering the loss their family had suffered at the hands of the Fire Nation. She first thought she had lost her heritage, with all the southern waterbending masters taken away by the FIre Nation, but she learned that her lack of understanding was inconsequential to the loss of a loved one. Looking down she sighed with a sense of frustration, knowing that it would be impossible to fix that feeling in her heart; even if Zuko could become Fire Lord and redeem his nation, his actions wouldn't take away the harm the Fire Nation did.

"There is something. But it can't be fixed. No field-trip can fix it." she admitted, her brother and father looking to each other with uneasy expressions, obviously understanding the implications behind her words, even if no one else did.

"Well, if that's the case, I do have a field-trip I need completed, and I think that I might be helped greatly by it."

Azula raised a finger to her chin in thought, "Well, you're a run-away, aren't you?"

Toph's eyes widened, "I didn't tell you that." she mumbled, making the Princess chuckle.

"Well, when I was hunting you all down, I did my research." she clarified, before turning to her brother, "There is a field-trip you could take, but I think it might be a little easier to do once we stop the war."

"Oh..." Toph mumbled, before her eyes widened, as even though she was blind, the expression she made slight indicated a shocked realisation, "Yeah... uh... I don't want to go down that badger-mole hole very soon."

Katara, who had been sitting silently since she last spoke, turned around and got up, deciding that she needed a breath of fresh air after her thoughts about her mother and that day had resurfaced once more. She walked up a rocky mound, making her way to sit up the top, looking down at everyone chatting at the campsite below her; looking up at the nearly full moon above her, she sighed, thinking that if she had had the powers she possessed at the very moment when her village had been attacked, they she could have saved her mother and fought off the Southern Raiders. She knew it was impossible, but the thought alone made her curl her head down into her knees, thinking how much she had grown as both a bender and a person, but how the hole she felt in her heart couldn't be mended.

She was unsure how Sokka or her dad felt, but she guessed they had similar feelings, even if they processed it differently; her brother was always preparing for a fight, maybe because he thought he had to, because she needed to be protected from the Fire Nation, and her father had left them both behind to fight in the war, perhaps as a way to redeem himself for his perceived failure that day, even if had no responsibility over what had happened. She had seen, or glimpsed at what had happened to her mother; the man demanding and making her grovel. When she told her calmly to leave the tent and find her father; when she perhaps unwittingly sacrificed her own life to protect her own. It made her want to scream, but she didn't; because at that moment she heard a voice beside her in the darkness.

"What are you crying about?" Azula questioned her, making her raise her head from her knees as she looked at the Fire Nation girl beside her, who was holding a small flame in her left palm to light up both of their faces a pale blue.

"What does it matter to you? I came here to be alone." she snarled at her, not wanting to speak to a girl she barely rusted, let alone liked.

"I know you want something fixed, and I'm guessing it has to do with your family." she told her, Katara's eyes darting up to look at her.

"Did someone tell you?" she questioned, the Princess shaking her head.

"No. I'm just quite attentive, you see?" she asked her rhetorically, the Water Tribe teen sighing as she looked away.

"It's my mother." she told her, the Princess raising a brow.

"Oh... she was killed by the Fire Nation, wasn't she?" she questioned, Katara's eyes darting to her with suspicion.

"How can you keep guessing things like this?"

"Well, I for one wouldn't follow the Avatar around the world into certain danger if I didn't have an axe to grind with said Avatar's obvious enemies." Azula suggested, making her snicker; as absurd as it was for her to consider, that both of them had similar motivations, in the end, "What I'm trying to say, is that you want revenge, and I've already helped your brother out with that, so it's only fair I assist you in on your quest."

"I don't have a quest. I don't even know who killed my mother." she grumbled, standing up, before she turned her heels, beginning to walk down the hill back to the camp; as angry as she was, she knew that Azula was just trying to illicit some kind of emotion of her, just so she could use it for her own gain; at least that was Katara thought in her head to give herself a good enough reason to walk away, knowing that she wanted revenge badly.

"The Southern Raiders." the Princess simply told her, "They're responsible. You want your field-trip? You're going to get what you need, Katara." she declared, making her eyes dart back to face the Princess, still feeling suspicious of her own motivations.

"And what do you want?"

"To see the guilty suffer the fate they deserve." she raised a finger, "Zhao died not by my hand, but by that of your brother, who avenged his beloved. It is only right that if justice is to be served against this man, you are the one to deal it down."

"You're not right in the head." she refuted her, the Princess titling her chin up, almost looking smug.

"I know, but that's it isn't it? I can acknowledge that I'm broken in so many ways, but can you acknowledge that you want to murder a man even more than your brother did that fool Zhao?" she questioned Katara, who felt a certain tug in her chest; as much as it pained her sense of morality to side with Azula of people, for once, she was right, in every way.

"Yes." she mumbled quietly, before turning to face her with a confident expression; she knew what needed to be done, and finally there was someone who at the very least understood that.

"Yes, I want to make that man pay with his life."


	56. The Southern Raiders

_"If have to defend my honour, I will, Zula."_

_The Princess smirked with a sense of confidence; although she new her brother was far less a coward than their uncle, she knew he could be soft, and that was unacceptable. He was the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, now without a doubt seeing that Iroh hadn't challenged their father to an Agni Kai. His show of weakness was despicable in her eyes, although she was rather pleased with the outcome; her father remained Fire Lord, and thus she and her brother were his heirs. Her pleasure in seeing her position of power remain was outweighed by her feelings of disdain toward her uncle, the man who his nation called the Dragon of the West, a title that overstated his willpower. The only redeeming part of the moment was her brother's unwavering desire to defend his own honour, something that Iroh refused to do._

_"That's what I wanted to hear, Zuzu." she placed a hand on his shoulder before she gestured toward the door ahead of them, away from the throne where their father was sitting, "Now, let's get out of here, before Father notices us."_

_The two siblings made their way back to the door, opening it before glancing at the guard who had begrudgingly let them through; he gulped with fear upon meeting the Princess's glare, turning around, as if to tell her he wouldn't say a word. She made a smug grin, her brother rolling his eyes at her antics as they walked on away down the hall._

_"So... do you really think he's going to do nothing?" he dared to ask him, Azula sighing with frustration; whoever their uncle was before the siege of Ba SIng Se, he was gone, and had been replaced by someone she didn't understand, nor wanted to._

_"He won't avenge Lu Ten, so I guess... he won't do much." she admitted, looking down, "He's not fighting in the war, and he's not the heir to the throne, so I guess he's just an old man. A cowardly one at that." she considered, making her brother sigh._

_"I wish I could understand." he told her, "I see where you're coming from, Zula. He's... something's changed about him, and I don't know who he is."_

_She looked back up, unsure how to respond, "Me too." she simply mumbled, before she decided o change the topic, knowing that it made both of them feel uneasy, "Let's get out of here." she told him, prodding him to continue following her down the hallway, which he did._

_"So, did you want to do something else today? Because I was enjoying reading my book, honestly." he asked his sister, who made a small chuckle, knowing that his idea was feeble in comparison to her own; she had a far better idea of something for them to do together._

_"Yeah, maybe beat you up." she cracked her knuckles, making Zuko roll his eyes._

_"I can hold my own." he declared, making her snicker in disbelief._

_"Oh, really?" she questioned him, the Prince's eyebrow twitching with anger._

_"You're on." he grumbled, before turning his heels, heading in the direction of the sparring courtyard; the two of them almost broke into a sprint, racing down the hallways, her brother taking the lead early on, but after a few sharp turns, she gained an edge on him, sprinting on ahead with a gleeful smile._

_"Aha! Too slow!" she demeaned his efforts as she got closer to the courtyard, which was by that point in sight, the light of the midday sun shining down into the hallways from it._

_Racing down the final stretch, she jumped up as she reached the end of the hallway, landing on the edge of the stone tiled courtyard; she raised a fist up into the air, before pointing a finger at her brother, knowing that she had already won in their fight of agility, "Now, let's actually get to the fun part."_

_Her brother panted, wiping the sweat from his face before nodding, taking a firebending stance as the two of them walked out onto the courtyard. The two of them moved around each other, almost as if he was replicating her own form, which he wasn't- not exactly, at least; Zuko's firebending was more loose than her own, less constrained to forms and brute strength. She might almost call him underhanded in his style, but that sounded more insulting than it actually was; he was adaptive, and that intrigued her, seeing that his skills and pure power were nothing in comparison to her own._

_"Come on. Do something, Zuzu." she prodded him, the Prince sending a foot forward, spraying the ground between them with flames; she jumped over his attack and spun her foot around, sending a kick right at him, which he was barely able to dodge by side-stepping the wave of fire._

_She shook her head, knowing that the power of her brother's attack was nothing compared to her own, considering that might be because he lacked the drive that she did, but she knew that when bark came to bite, he was more than capable of fighting. He wasn't in that state at that moment, meaning she had an advantage; Azula wouldn't be as stupid to aggravate her brother into beating her, as interesting as it sounded, she wouldn't have her reputation besmirched, especially under the peering eyes of their father._

_He sent a few volleys of fireballs with his fists, forcing her to manoeuvre around them, ducking before spinning around, creating a ring of flames with her foot that he was forced to jump over; taking advantage of his moment in the air, she sent a fist upward at his chest, hitting him square in the gut with a fireball, flinging him backward. He barely was able to land on his feet, let alone dodge the next attack that came his way, a stream of flames she sent out of her two hands, combining into a tornado of fire throwing him back as he crossed his arms to deflect the flames; her brother wasn't very good at the offensive aspect of firebending, but he had certainly figured out how to use his opponent's bending as a shield. Azula's flames were wrapping around his arms, coiling like snakes, protecting his body while she continued to bend her attack at him._

_She jumped up, breaking her stream as she rose into the air above him, using her bending to propel herself higher than she would have been able to reach otherwise, before she thrust her arm down, sending out a fire whip which struck her brother on the face, making him shout out in pain as he was flung onto his back. The Princess cushioned her fall to the ground with her firebending, before she approached Zuko, who held his hands up to his face, which she had mildly singed with her attack; he cringed momentarily as he tried to open his eyes, which were bloodshot after her flames grazed them._

_"Damn it!" he growled sending out a stream of flames from his own hand, which she barely dodged by side-stepping it; his fire quickly dampened out as he groaned with pain, drooping down._

_As much as she didn't want to get her clothes burnt of by an aggrieved twelve year old, she felt an odd sense of respect toward her brother, who had still continued to fight, despite the mild, though painful looking injury he had received to his face._

_"Argh... that hurt." he mumbled, before he scowled at her, "Thanks, Zula." he sarcastically told her as he covered his eyes._

_"No need to cry about it. Well, seeing I nearly blinded you, you might want to go to the infirmary." she suggested, offering him a hand._

_"Urgh- yeah." he agreed, accepting her hand, "You seem in a more... uh- helpful mood than usual."_

_"I'm not. I just see who is deserving of my respect, brother."_

* * *

"Zuko, get up."

The Prince rubbed the sleep from his eyes, hearing his sister's voice outside his tent; he momentarily turned to Suki, who had raised her own head, her face looking groggy as her eyes narrowed at the tent opening.

"What do you want, Azula?" she asked of his sister, who simply responded by poking her head in.

"This is important." she stressed, before her eyes darted to her brother, "Come on. We're going somewhere."

"Can you tell me why?" he simply asked her, the Princess sighing with frustration before she gestured out of the tent.

"It's better if she explains it." Azula simply told him, making him furrow a brow with confusion.

"Sorry... who?"

"Katara, you dummy." she answered his question before her head left the tent, her footsteps moving away from their tent.

He face-palmed, feeling frustrated enough already after what had transpired the day prior; he thought Toph was joking around when it came to the whole field-trip thing, but it turned out she wasn't. He didn't even if know where they were going, but if his sister of all people was being insistent about it, he knew it had to be important.

"Sounds like important. Life-changing field-trip important." Suki joked, making him turn to her with a smile.

"I'll try to make it a quick one." he assured her, "We have things to do, Avatars to train." he sighed, thinking how busy their schedule was; it was all Sokka had been talking about the whole trip on Appa from the Western Air Temple- that and food, of course, as everyone was already hungry when they left.

"Good luck." she simply raised a hand to him as he climbed out of the tent, pulling his pants up in the process; he didn't want to walk around with his junk hanging out, after all.

Tying up his belt, he glanced to his sister and Katara, who were chatting quietly amongst themselves, although he could tell from the Water Tribe girl's expression that she was both determined and angry to complete whatever field-trip she had had in mind. He distinctively remembered her saying something about her idea being impossible, but the fact his sister had dragged him out of his tent at sunrise contradicted that statement; the idea of Katara and Azula working together in the first place surprised him, knowing that other than the fact the Water Tribe girl was healing his sister's injuries, they had no real friendship or liking toward each other.

When he approached, he nervously scratched the back of his head, "So... uh, what did you need me for?" he asked the pair, his sister clearing her throat, gesturing for the other girl to speak.

"Azula told me something that made me realise that... well, what I want." she explained herself rather vaguely, making the Prince raise a brow.

"Sorry... what you want?" he asked her, confused as to what that even meant.

"I want to find the man who killed my mother." she simply told him, his eyes widening at the mention, sending a shiver down her spine.

"W-wait... your mother is dead?" he mumbled, not having heard of that part of the two siblings story until she just uttered it; Katara's expression turned to a grimace as her eyes darted away, being forced to think back to what he could only assume to be horrible memories.

"Yes. The Commander of the Southern Raiders... or at least that's who I think he is, killed her in the last raid on the Southern Water Tribe." she explained, making him place a hand over his face; his grandfather, Fire Lord Azulon, had personally ordered the capture, and if necessary, killing of the waterbending population of the Southern Water Tribe, in order to ensure there was no resistance to the Fire Nation there.

"He was looking for... you." He concluded, the two girls nodding, "I- we, we have to help you fix this."

Katara's eyes widened with surprise, "That... that was easier than I thought it would be." she acknowledged, before her eyes narrowed at him, "Why?"

"I understand what it is like to lose a mother, we both do." he eyed his sister, whose own glare moved from him to the ground, obviously feeling uncomfortable at the mention of their mother; she probably despised her when she had been loyal to their father, but now she was probably more uncertain that ever about her relationship with their mother.

"I didn't- you didn't even say-" she looked to Azula with surprise, Zuko realising that she hadn't mentioned anything about their mother or her disappearance to the Water Tribe girl, despite wanting to help her with an issue of a specifically maternal nature.

"That's because my mother despised me." she clarified, "Well... I certainly think she did. But she disappeared a long time ago, and never came back to save us from that monster." she spoke words that Zuko had never heard her utter, and they stung as badly as the pain of losing their mother did, because it was true; she could have taken them, and they might have been safe and free from their father, free to live their lives as they pleased, instead of being dragged into the hell that was their current familial situation.

"She couldn't have done that. No-" Katara began to argue, before the Prince cut her off.

"No, she did. The abandoning part, not the despising part." he clarified, dropping his head down, thinking how stupid he was to ignore that very fact; as much as he loved her, her actions had indirectly led to his scarring, his banishment, and even the very conversation they were having, when he considered it all.

His eyes turned back to face the Water Tribe girl, "There's another reason, which I'm unsure if my sister mentioned. Our grandfather, he ordered the raids on the Southern Water Tribe; our bloodline is responsible for what happened to your mother as much as the man who committed the act himself."

The Water Tribe girl looked at them with a sight tinge of anger before she shook her head, almost angry at herself, "No. You don't need to apologise for that, not now." she assured them, "Not after what you did." she eyed Azula, not Zuko, knowing what she did; she saw the physical carnage that had been dealt down on his sister's body by their very own father.

"Well, does that settle it? Are we going to do this?" his sister questioned him, his eyes darting to her for a moment.

He remained silent as he considered her own motivations, "Yes. But first, I'd like to have a sibling-to-sibling chat. Alone." he stressed, Katara nodding awkwardly before stepping away.

"I'll go... uh- have some breakfast." she excused herself, before walking off, leaving the two royals standing in the middle of a camp on some random desolate island neither of them knew the name of, at the crack of dawn, intending to hunt down the man who murdered their friends' mother.

"Why, Azula? Why do you even want to do this?" he asked her, confused how she had motivated her self to help her.

"I think you need to remember something, or rather, have it fully explained." she clarified, raising a finger to her chin as she lulled over what she was to say.

"What?" he bluntly questioned.

"Zhao's death." she clarified, "Katara filled in some blanks for me, so I actually have a better picture than I had before." she acknowledged.

"Oh, really. And how is explaining how Sokka somehow killed him going to make me understand why you want to help Katara?"

"It will." she stressed, "Sokka was in love with a girl. Her name was Yue, the daughter of the present chief of the Northern Water Tribe." he explained, making his eyes widen; he remembered that part of what happened, although he didn't know who the girl was, "She sacrificed her life to revive the moon spirit, Tui, who had saved her own life when she was an infant. Zhao killed Tui, and thus Zhao killed Yue."

"And so, instead of killing him, you let Sokka do it?" he asked in clarification.

"Yes. As much as I wanted to burn that snake alive, and do it your name, I knew that the loss Sokka had suffered was incomparable, and that would make his blood-lust all the more genuine." she declared, making his eyes widen.

"You make it sound like you enjoyed it." he mumbled, the Princess raising a brow, seeming confused by his words, which in his eyes constituted a perfectly reasonable concern.

"And you wouldn't have? Justice was served, quite finely at that, and I enjoyed it." she declared confidently, making him sigh; he knew his sister wanted Zhao dead to serve him justice, because he had nearly been killed, and in the end, she wanted Katara to find the same peace by ending the man who had killed her mother in place of her.

"Fine." he mumbled, before his eyes darted up to meet her own, "I understand. I just... I don't want us to do things that we might regret."

"You sound like Aang." she tried to mock him, the Prince looking away, ashamed of what he had done in the past.

"No. I'm someone who has actually gone through with killing another human being, and witnessed someone doing so to save my life. Killing someone, no matter how evil, is something I don't take lightly."

"What about our father?" she questioned him, as if it would undermine his point.

"I don't take that lightly either, but unlike this man, he's someone who is actively trying to destroy our world; he needs to die to fix everything, in the end."

"And what will you do if Katara kills this man?" she furthered her questions, Zuko's eyes turning back to face his sister; he wasn't the person to control others, especially when it was his friends, and such a personal and deep issue.

"I won't stop her. That's her choice to make."

* * *

"I need to borrow Appa."

Azula walked up beside Katara and her brother, all of them having had their breakfast and well and truly ready to go do what had be done. Her brothers inane questioning was frustrating, but she knew that dealing with Aang would be worse; he was the kind of person who would be shocked, if not disgusted by what they were about to do.

"Why? Is it your turn to take a little field-trip with Zuko... and Azula?" he eyed both of the royal siblings.

Katara simply looked at her with the same determined look she had had all morning, "Yes, it is."

"Oh. What's going on?" he asked her, his tone rather curious.

Azula almost wanted to laugh, knowing that his curiosity would proceed to bite him in the back, that being his relationship with the girl before her, who for the two was more intimate than a friendship, even if it was unspoken.

"We're going to find the man who took my mother from me." she declared, Azula taking note of Sokka rising up from his seated position nearby.

"Sorry, what?" the Water Tribe boy looked at them with shock, "You can't be... oh wait..." he mumbled, his expression becoming more annoyed than anything, "This is Azula, isn't it?"

"Yeah. That was my first reaction too." Zuko piped up, earning a glare from his sister.

"Umm... so what exactly do you think this would accomplish?" Aang asked Katara, who sighed and shook her head, walking away with a frustrated face.

"I knew you wouldn't understand."

"Wait, stop, I do understand." the Avatar piped up, garnering their attention, "You're feeling unbelievaable pain and rage. How do you think I felt about the sandbenders when they stole Appa? How do you think I felt about the Fire Nation when I found out what happened to my people?"

"This isn't about pain and rage." Azula declared, much to his surprise, "She is beyond that. This is about justice."

"I don't think so. I think it's about getting revenge." he refuted her words, Katara turning back around with an angry voice.

"Fine! Maybe it is. Maybe that's what I need. Maybe that's what he deserves."

Aang's eyes widened, "Katara, you sound like Jet."

Azula had heard about that boy, although she was unsure what he had done; what ever it was, it was comparable to what they were about to do.

"It's not the same. Jet attacked the innocent. This man, he's a monster." she argued, Zuko's eyes widening with surprise, and before he could make any response, Sokka stepped in, placing a hand on his sister shoulder.

"I know you're angry, Katara, but I think you should talk to Dad about this first." he suggested, making her flinch forward.

"What, so he can stop me?" she questioned him accusingly, the Water Tribe teen shaking his head.

"No. I agree with you, actually. Justice is something that is necessary, but you have to consider who serves it."

"It has to be me." she declared, as if he were suggesting their father do the deed instead, which he wasn't, proven by his shocked expression.

"That's not what I'm saying, Katara." he disagreed with her assumption, "I'm saying you need to think about the others affected. She was my mother too, and his wife."

"I know." she spoke in the quietest, least aggrieved voice she had that morning.

"The monks used to say that revenge is like a two-headed rat-viper. While you watch you enemy go down, you're being poisoned yourself."

"I have to disagree with that, guru-goody-two-shoes." Zuko raised a hand, "Do you even know why I'm here?"

"To defeat the Fire Lord?"

"No. To save the world... and get my revenge." he declared, much to the surprise of Azula; she hadn't really considered how angry he was about the things their father had done, seeing that he was acting the entire time between their return to the homeland and the eclipse, "If the Fire Lord wasn't my bastard of a father, I wouldn't really care about his fate... but because of what he did to me and my sister, I do. And Katara cares about this man's fate, because if she doesn't get to decide it, then that justice will never come."

She turned to face Aang, her expression seeming more pained than anything, "Now that I know he's out there, now that I know we could find him, I feel like I have no choice."

"Katara, you do have a choice. Forgiveness."

Azula, despite having better judgement, decided that was the opportune moment to laugh at him; he was so blinded by his own philosophy that he couldn't see the truth before him. Pain did not ever disappear, it could only be directed to other places; Zuko was an example of that truth, the Princess knowing full well that he never would have burned Zhao's face if it hadn't been for the mental trauma he experienced from his Agni Kai with their father.

"You're a fool." she declared, "That pain Katara feels, it can't just go away. You're equating her trauma to some kind of thing that she could wish away."

"That's not what I'm saying." he tried to argued in his favour, before her brother stepped in.

"No, it is." Zuko argued in his sister's favour, "You might think that's how the world works, but this is for Katara to decide."

Azula knew what she had decided, and agreed with that decision; Katara's pain could instead be directed away, although she knew that from experience that it was better to face one's demons head on, rather than to just place the blame somewhere else. She herself was guilty of that, knowing that her initial disdain toward her brother had been redirecting her feelings against their mother upon him; it was unfair of her, and she realised that in hindsight, knowing that it would have just been easier to despise her mother for the terrible parent she was instead of taking that pain out on her brother, who was truly innocent.

"Why are you two doing this?" Aang questioned them, turning away from Katara, as she expected he would; if there was anything, the Princess knew he would hate doing, it would be to argue with the girl he seemed to adore so much.

"Because we understand." Zuko explained himself simply, "We understand that pain, and we want to make sure she can rid herself of it." before he moved a little closer to the Avatar, making him feel uneasy, "Do you know what it feels like to hate yourself for three whole years? Because I do. And I can tell you with certainty, whatever Katara has felt since her mother's death, it's probably worse."

The Water Tribe girl had already climbed up onto the sky-bison at that point, making all of them look up at her with shock, "You're just going to take him?" the young Avatar questioned her, Katara's eyes narrowing at him.

"Yes. Because I think, no matter how you feel, you understand as well."

He sighed with dismay, before he nodded, seeming like he had finally given in to the fact of the matter, "Please. I don't want to stop you, but I want you to know, revenge isn't the the only way. Let you anger out and then let it go. Forgive him."

Those words made her face contort and turn away as she reached for Appa's reins; she was so determined that she was simply going to ignore him, and the Princess could even say she was in awe of it- it reminded her of Zuko in Ba Sing Se, who did everything he did to save both her and Suki, without compromise.

"Katara! Wait!" a voice called out behind them; Azula's eyes darted back, seeing Hakoda standing before them, beside Sokka, both of them with the same fearful look on their faces.

"Dad..." the Water Tribe girl mumbled, as her brother and father approached Appa, looking up at her with unease.

"Sokka told me what you plan to do... I- I don't want to stop you." he assured her, before his eyes narrowed, "Please. Do not think that killing this man will bring your mother back. I have learned that the hard way."

"W-what do you mean?" she mumbled, the Chief's eyes falling down; Azula guessed that he had committed some disturbing things, all in the name of avenging his wife.

"I've killed so many men. Especially those sea-raven bastards. The warriors and I have slaughtered full ships of them." he told her, "That hasn't helped me, it hasn't lessened the pain. You need to know that- that everything I did, all that fighting, leaving you and your brother. It was all for her- for your mother."

"D-Dad... I'm sorry." Katara's eyes began to water, her head drooping down.

"No. I'm sorry. What I did, what all the warriors did, even if it did help in the fight against the Fire Nation, it was selfish." he stressed, before he sighed, his expression becoming more serious, "But that doesn't change what happened, and who you're looking for." he acknowledged, before he threw her a bone dagger, which she caught with both her hands, "Do what I couldn't, and if you can't, at the very least make him know. Make him know what did did."

"I- I will." she assured him before her expression returned to its seemingly natural determined state.

"That is very noble of you, Chief Hakoda." Zuko made a curt smile at him, Azula just as well making a similar appreciative expression; she didn't know the man at all, but from what he had just said, he seemed be a far better father than their own, and actually acknowledged his wrongs. 

"So is that it? Are you just going to go and find him?" Sokka asked of them, the three all nodding.

"You haven't really said anything." Zuko admitted, making the Water Tribe boy look away.

"Do what you have to do." he simply told them, looking away with a grimace, "I don't want to have to think about that day again."

"You won't." Azula simply assured him before she climbed up onto the sky-bison, sitting down on the saddle, looking back down to Aang momentarily.

He looked back up at her, Zuko and Katara poignantly, "I hope you do what's right."

"Right and wrong are beholden to the believer. Whatever Katara does, is by default, right." she declared, making her brother snarl with annoyance.

"If you quote our shitty father's inane philosophies one more time I'm going to smack you over the back of the head."

"Try me."

* * *

"There!"

Zuko's voice woke Katara from her slumber, and she knew at that moment that she was ready; she was going to face the Southern Raiders, and the man who killed her mother. She looked up and saw Zuko looking through a spyglass, eyeing a ship in the distance.

"See those Sea Raven flags?" he asked her, grasping the spyglass as it was thrown into her hands, looking through it to examine the ship, "It's the Southern Raiders."

As she looked out to the ship with a determined glance, she responded with as much determination as she could muster, "Let's do this."

She heard a grown behind her, coming from Azula, who had been asleep at the time just the same; her head peered up looking to the ship, "Are we here?"

"Yes. Get ready." her brother warned her, as the three of them sat on Appa's saddle, getting closer to the water's surface.

The Princess stood up, her fingers arcing down as if she was about to fire lightning on the ship; Zuko placed a hand on her shoulder, "No. We're going to use stealth, not force." he told her, the three of them sitting down as Katara waterbent a bubble around them, the sky-bison dipping under the water's surface.

She used her bending to make coils of water which she pulled up the edge of the ship on each side, using them grab a few of the soldiers, throwing them off the deck; as Appa moved further through the water under the hull of the ship, she lost control of her coils, but didn't worry, knowing that they would resurface soon enough. The sky-bison rose up on the other side of the ship, and she quickly began to regain control of the water, bending two waves up on either side of the ship, before sending the water onto the deck of the ship, throwing the men on-board off their feet and all but off right off the deck. As Appa came down to land on the deck, the group jumped off of his saddle, Katara immediately focusing on the last remaining soldier on the deck; he made a feeble attempt to firebend at her, only to be thrown off the deck by a funnel of water that she bent out from behind her. She glanced around the deck before looking to Zuko and Azula, who both nodded at her, seemingly in reassurance; the trio barged through the doorway, making their way down the central hallway of the bridge, Katara's hands ready with a coil of water around her arms. Suddenly, a door opened as if out of nowhere, and a soldier brandishing a broadsword popped out; Zuko skilfully grasped the man's arm, seizing his weapon as he threw him back into room from whence he came. Locking the door shut with the soldier's own blade, he turned to face the other two, who he followed on down the hallway. The Water Tribe girl looked toward the door at the end of the corridor, and the three of them stopped outside of it, the Prince turning face her with a serious look on his face.

"This is it, Katara. Are you ready to face him?" he asked her, his sister leaning forward with a similar face.

"Are you ready to do it?" she almost prodded her, Katara's hands tensing as she began to bend the water toward the doorway, screaming out a battle-cry at the top of her lungs.

The door opened, revealing a soldier standing in the middle of the room, who bent flames right at them, Zuko dispersing them with ease, before he sent another volley of flames their way. Azula stepped forward, swinging her foot around, deflecting the fireball to the side; the soldier, who she assumed to the captain of the ship, and thus the Commander of the Southern Raiders, stepped back fearfully as the Prince bent flames at him, standing by the steering wheel with a firebending stance.

"Who are you?" he questioned them, making Azula laugh mockingly at him.

"You'll figure that out soon enough." she declared, before she sent a fireball right at his head, the ball being flung back, screaming out in fear; the utter terror on his face made Katara realise he knew who he was dealing with, quite specifically.

"P-Princess Azula?" he muttered her name, returning to his feet, ready to send another fireball their way.

Before he had the chance to do that, Katara used her bending to grab hold of his arm; as much as it disgusted her, bloodbending was more than suitable for her current situation.

"What?" he exclaimed with fear, as his arm moved around uncontrollably, making Katara smile, knowing that his efforts were no use when compared to her bending; he tried to contain the movement with his other arm, but she simply thrust her hands closer, moving his body forward, "What's happening to me?"

She dropped her hands down, forcing his body down to the floor; beside her, Azula's jaw dropped with awe, "What is this? This is the most amazing bending technique I've ever seen."

"Bloodbending." Katara clarified before Zuko knelt down beside the man.

"I want you to think back. Think back to your last raid on the Southern Water Tribe."

The man simply stammered with fear, "I don't know what you're talking about. Please, I don't know."

"Don't lie!" the Prince almost shouted at him, pointing back at the Water Tribe girl herself, "You look her in the eye and you tell me you don't remember what you did."

She brought her arms up, raising the man to his knees, approaching him, despite how fearful he looked; his fearful eyes showed her the truth, and it was one that made her wretch with disgust- it wasn't the man she was looking for. She would never forget his eyes, and those were not his.

"It's not him." she simply declared, dropping her hands letting him free of her bending, "He's not the man."

Zuko looked at her with shock, "What?! What do you mean he's not? He's the leader of the Southern Raiders! He has to be the guy!"

Azula approached the man, grasping him by the collar, "Who was leading the Southern Raiders... seven, eight years ago?" she guessed when the man she was looking for would have been leading the Southern Raiders.

"Y-you must be looking for Yon Rha. He retired- uh- four years ago." he told her, making the Princess curl her lips, before she let go of him, making a grimace of fear, "Wh-why did you do it?"

"Betray my father, you ask?" she looked down at the man with disgust, "Because he's a horrible person, making our nation do horrible things, like what this Yon Rha did to my friends mother." she declared with a tone of confidence Katara knew had to be the truth, "You are lucky you're not the one who did it, otherwise you would have got your guts ripped out from the inside out."

The Water Tribe girl gulped, realising that is what she would have ended up doing with her with power, before she turned away, tears falling down her cheeks. She knew what she had to do, and any mistake she made along the way, it was worth the price at the end; the pain she felt, it had to dealt out properly, to the deserving individual, just like Azula told her.

"Let's go find Yon Rha, and end this."

* * *

Watching the man they intended to do horrible things to face-plant in a mud puddle was so poetic to Azula, she wanted to laugh; she refrained from doing so, knowing that it had taken them a long journey to find Yon Rha and follow him all the way to the middle of a field in some random poor shit-hole in the Fire Nation.

Her brother stood above him, looking at him with a disappointed look "We weren't behind the bush." he mocked him, acknowledging that he had set a bush alight a moment prior believing that they had hidden behind it, "And I wouldn't try firebending again."

Yon Rha covered his face with his arms, "Whoever you are, take my money. Take whatever you want, I'll cooperate."

This show cowardice infuriated the Princess more than anything, grabbing him by the collar and hammering him in the jaw harshly, with no firebending at that, audibly dislocating it, "You weakling! You're not even going to fight." before she spat on his face, dropping him down onto the ground, "I've decided it. You more than deserve what's coming for you." she declared, gesturing to Katara, who began to approach him.

"Do you know who I am?"

"No, I'm not sure." he fearfully mumbled, touching his jaw as she growled with anger.

"Oh you better remember me like your life depends on ti!" she shouted viciously at him, leaning in closer, "Why don't you take a closer look?"

"Yes, yes." his eyes widened, "I remember you now. You're the little Water Tribe girl. The daughter of the last waterbender." he remembered, making Azula grimace, realising the implications of his words, that her mother had pretended to be the last waterbender, and paid with her life.

"She lied to you." Katara told him, "She was protecting the last waterbender." she grit her teeth.

Yon Rha's eyes widened with surprise, "What? Who?"

"Me!" she screamed at him, raising her arms, which suspended the rain drops all around them, which began to rapidly accumulate, a dome of water forming all around them.

"Wow..." Azula mumbled with a sense of awe, watching Katara raise her arms, bending the dome up into a huge blob above them.

The Water Tribe girl screamed out a battle cry as she directed the water down toward her opponent, turning it into a multitude of ice spikes; the Princess's heart began to beat like a drum as she watched the spikes grow nearer and nearer. Yon Rha shielded himself, even if it were to be no use, but somehow, the ice spikes didn't pierce him, stopping only inches from his face; Katara lowered her hands, breathing in and out, letting the ice spikes deform into water, splattering all over him.

"I did a bad thing. I know I what I did and you deserve revenge." the cowering man began to ramble, "So why don't you take my Mother? That would be fair." he told her, making Azula scream out in anger; the fact Katara didn't kill him on the spot was bad enough, but that a man that was willing to sacrifice his own mother- he didn't deserve to live.

She grasped the man by the neck, letting her firebending singe his skin, making him scream out in pain, "You fucking degenerate! How dare you?! You think that would change anything?!" she screamed at him, throwing his head forcefully into the mud below.

She turned up to face Katara, "Do it. He doesn't deserve to live. I don't even hate the Fire Nation like you do, and I still want this man dead. The kind of person who could say such a thing, he doesn't deserve your mercy."

"Azula, stop it!" her brother grasped her shoulder, making her push him away.

"No! Zuzu! Shut your mouth! You don't get it." she shouted at him, before turning to face the Water Tribe girl, who looked at her with shock, as much as she could let on with the brooding glare she had on Yon Rha, "There's only one way this ends. This man doesn't deserve to live. So, either you do it, or I will."

"A-Azula..." her brother mumbled her name with shock, sounding unsure if she was truly sane; she doubted her sanity as well, but it didn't change what she saw before her- her judgement was still clear, and it told her the man before her was beyond saving, or redemption of any kind.

"W-wait..." the cowering man mumbled, "Please spare me."

"I always wondered what kind of person would do such a thing. But now that I see, you I think I understand." the Water Tribe girl walked forward, looking at him with disugst, "There's just nothing inside you. Nothing at all. You're pathetic and sad and empty." she told him, before she lifted her chin, almost looking like she was about to cry, "But as much as I hate you... I just can't do it."

Yon Rha cowered before her, and Azula swore she could see a smile on his face, watching Katara as she began to walk away; the Princess grasped him by the shoulder.

"You don't get to smile." she told him, almost as an order, his eyes darting up to her, "How did you do it?"

"Wh-what?" he mumbled, his face fearful once again.

"How did you kill her mother?" she questioned, Zuko looking back to her with a grimace.

"I- I burned her." he told Azula, who simply curled her lips.

"Oh, how simple." she almost smiled at him, before she turned her face into a scowl, "Well then," she began, filling her hand with flames before punching him in the chest, making him scream with agony, "this is a suitable punishment."

Katara looked back at her with shock, as the Princess relished in the suffering of her opponent; more than anything, she appreciated the fact that he had gotten what he deserved, even if it was not by the Water Tribe girl's hand.

As Yon Rha writhed with pain on the ground, she looked at him with a disappointed glare, "You don't die today, Yon Rha. Rather you will suffer with the consequences of your actions... physically, rather than emotionally, seeing that you're rather empty inside that little head of yours." she told him, before she raised her chin, feeling that she had satiated her need to see justice be served.

As she approached her brother and Katara, both of them looked at her with shock, "Wh-why did you do that Zula?"

"Because as I told you, you don't get it. Justice has been served, because if he has no heart, he sure must have a body; so I broke that instead." she declared, before continuing along, the Water Tribe girl's eyes widening as she glanced back to Yon Rha's clearly alive but grievously injured body.

"Thank you, Azula. You showed me the truth." she acknowledged, making the Princess raise a brow with surprise.

"The truth?"

"Revenge is just like Aang said. But that wasn't revenge for you, that was... that was just what you said it was. Redirection." she told Azula, who simply sighed, knowing that she had ignored her own advice.

"Yes, it was. So, I hope Aang hurries up and kills my father, otherwise I feel I'm going to go insane."

"You're not going to go insane." Zuko tried to assure her, the Princess sighing, knowing that he was wrong; her anger was like a disease, and it seemed like there no chance of it letting up.

"You're wrong, Zuzu. That's why father needs to die. So the pain can go away with him."


	57. The Ember Island Players

_"Uncle... why are we here, again?"_

_The Prince looked at his uncle's giddy smile with disdain; he knew that they had only showed up at a Fire Days festival because his uncle demanded he go and spend his time at port doing something other than moping around in his room. He had quickly quipped back that he was meditating, not moping, but Iroh didn't seem to care; he wanted to argue, but he knew that it was easier to go along with his plans rather than try and do the opposite._

_"To appreciate the festivities... and the food!" he grinned, holding up some fire flakes, before taking bite out of them, his grin breaking slightly as he grimaced from the hotness of the food; he realised that after spending years at sea mostly eating army rations with the occasional absurd meal that his uncle procured, they weren't as acclimatised to the cuisine of their nation._

_The Prince rolled his eyes at him, before turning his eyes up toward a puppet show, which was disturbingly, depicted his father burning a person he assumed to represent the Earth King, though he doubted anyone in the Fire Nation actually knew what he looked like. He cleared his throat before turning his eyes away, catching the understandable grimace on his uncle's own face; his expression immediately changed upon reaching Zuko's gaze, making a smile as he bit into more of his fire flakes._

_"Mmm... these sure are good nephew. Did you want some?" he asked his nephew, who begrudgingly reached over and grasped a few from his hand, biting into a few and chewing on them, appreciating the hot flavour and crunchy texture._

_He usually didn't get to eat fire flakes when he lived in the palace, only ever really getting to eat them when his family went to Ember Island for holiday, something that made him smile slightly; he missed those times dearly, and hoped that one day, once his honour was returned, and he was Crown Prince once again, he would maybe find a similarly enjoyable time with his family. He knew that Azula and his father didn't have much care for those things, but he was sure that both of them would have to get tired of their duties, eventually, and perhaps go on a rather odd family vacation; he knew that it wouldn't be the same without his mother, but it would be better than nothing._

_His eyes darted back to his uncle, who was grunting with what sounded like pain, his tongue out as he tapped on the end, grimacing with slight disgust, "A li'l spicie' than I wemembered." he mumbled in a barely recognisable voice._

_"For spirits sake, Uncle." he sighed with frustration, "Just stop eating them!"_

_Putting his tongue back into his mouth, he responded with a smile, "I can't help it, nephew. They're so tasty."_

_"Just go find some tea or something to drink." he gestured over to a stall, "That'll help you calm your tongue." he suggested, the retired general smiling at him._

_"What a bright suggestion, nephew!" he raised a fist, "Tea it is!"_

_He rolled his eyes at Iroh, before his eyes darted back toward a stage that was set up nearby, with some kind of acting trope playing on the stage; from their outfits, he could tell it some dramatisation of contemporary warfare. It was only until he paid closer attention that he realised what the play was actually depicting; the large background they had behind the actors depicted none of than the walls of Ba Sing Se- it was his uncle's six hundred day siege, brought to life in a play. He was unsure why it would even be made part of the Fire Days festival, although he guessed it might have something to do with his father and the image of the Dragon of the West, something he probably wanted besmirched for safety reasons. As Azula had told him, either of them could have become Fire Lord, and it was in their father's best interest to make sure their uncle didn't get any smart ideas. He already knew Iroh was far too lazy and unconcerned with the matters of the world to actually consider retaking the throne; he was sure there was something more to him than those two things, or better phrased, he certainly hoped there was. Actually listening into the play, he grimaced, realising that the 'soldiers' were talking about fulfilling their duties on the field of battle._

_"Yes! We will finally destroy the Earth Kingdom. We have breached the walls!" one of the actors exclaimed, another looking at him sceptically._

_"But what if they can fight back. The Fire Nation is mighty, but these walls, they have never fallen." he suggested, foreshadowing what he already knew._

_"Do not fear!" he heard a voice call out, a rather stout looking man wearing an imitation of a Fire Nation general's armour walking onto the stage, "I, the great Dragon of the West, will lead us to victory, and finally destroy the Earth Kingdom!"_

_His eyes darted over to his uncle, who spurt out tea from his teacup which he had just bought from a stall._

_"Uh..." Zuko mumbled, pacing over to Iroh, who looked rather aghast at what he was seeing, "Uncle... you're in a play."_

_"This is rather... odd." he admitted, both of their eyes turning back to face the play before them._

_"Now, let us charge on the breach!" the actor representing his uncle raised a fist, a pyrotechnical effect blasting into the air, imitating what would have been an actual stream of flames._

_The actor soldiers called out, racing across the stage as if they were actually running into the field of battle, crossing over to the side of the stage and disappearing, followed by actor Iroh, who was meant to look like he was riding a komodo rhino into battle. The curtains fell over the stage, and for a few moments, there was an eerie silence, the Prince turning to face his uncle, whose left hand was twitching visibly, as if he was trying to silently mask a growing panic attack. He placed a hand on his shoulder, knowing that he didn't have to witness what came next._

_"Uncle, you don't have to see this." he assured him, the retired general shaking his head._

_"No. I am curious what history has to say of me." he refused to leave, although he could tell from the look on his face that he was fearful as he was; to see whatever imitation of the real events that transpired would disturb him enough, and then to see how they end the plan... would they show his father's ascension to the throne? Would an imitation of he himself be cowering in the background, just as he had in real life?_

_"I'd rather not..." he admitted, placing a hand on his uncle's shoulder, "I know you're usually the one giving advice, but do you really think this is the best idea?"_

_"What can go wrong?" his uncle made a confident grin, making the Prince simply gesture over to what he saw to be the actor version of his uncle riding into battle alongside who he assumed to be a poor imitation of his cousin Lu Ten, whose actor, unlike his uncle's, looked nothing like him._

_"That." he simply gestured, Iroh's eyes widening before they darted down; he remained silent for a moment as his actor self lambasted the Earth Kingdom for their walls, and the soldier actors cheered him on._

_"I want to see how they remember what happened." he gestured to the crowd, referring in as such to the populace of the Fire Nation._

_"I'm sure father's propaganda department is going to skew it away from the truth." he suggested bluntly, knowing that what actually happened on the battlefield wasn't every truly translated back by stories and reports the same way that those on the field might have experienced it; although he hadn't ever fought in a true battle, he had heard the stories about his own fate and banishment, wild stories being spun up about it, most of them as far from the truth as he'd like them to be._

_Suddenly, the stage before them burst up with technical effects, the images of boulders flying about and fireballs just the same; when the smoke cleared, there was a few actors looking like they were pretending to be injured, calling out to their leader, "General?ǃ Where are you?"_

_Then two backstage personnel moved two fake boulders out of the way, revealing the actor Iroh looking sorrowfully over the actor Lu Ten, who he assumed was meant to be dead at that point._

_"Sirǃ We must carry onǃ" one of the actors called out, the actor imitating his uncle shaking his head._

_"We have lost too much. There is no victory in all this bloodshed. Not after my only son has perished on the field." he told them, his poignant tone making the actor sound almost truly sad with what he was saying, before he turned his heels, "The siege is over."_

_The crowd gasped at what they had just seen, Iroh himself turning away with an uneasy face, obviously feeling the pain once again of that very moment, even if it hadn't transpired exactly like that; Zuko looked at him for a moment, his eyes turned downward with a poignant look, knowing how bad that experience had been for his uncle, "I'm sorry, Uncle."_

_His eyes darted up toward him, still looking almost ill from what he had just witnessed, "Sorry for what, nephew?"_

_"For not respecting you enough."_

_"S-sorry... what?" he mumbled, actually aghast at what he had just said._

_"It's true. I'm a bad nephew, and I ought to give you the respect you deserve. You've gone through so much, not just for me, but for our nation."_

_Iroh looked at him for a few moments before he smiled, the warmth returning to his face, "Thank you, Prince Zuko." he told him; a few people around them looked at him with surprise, one of the commoner's jaws dropping._

_"I-it's... by the spirits." he mumbled, realising that he was looking at the very man the play was about._

_The attention of most the crowd however turned back tot he stage as the curtains opened once more, showing the Fire Lord on his throne; of course, it wasn't an actor imitating Zuko's father, but his grandfather, Fire Lord Azulon, who had died soon after learning about the siege, something his sister had said was not a coincidence._

_"My son has failed in his duties." the actor began, actually taking a pose that he had seen his actual grandfather take, with his hands on his chin, looking at the crowd with beady, serious eyes, "How tragic it was because of my eldest grandson, Prince Lu Ten's untimely demise. But he is now without his own heir and his honour besmirched by his failure; my health his failing me, and I require a potent heir, someone who can lead the Fire Nation with certainty." he mused, before raising a hand, "Prince Ozaiǃ I call upon you to serve your nation. Will you do it?"_

_"Of course, father." an actor stood up, who wore an outfit imitating the actual robes of the royal family, with a fake goatee that was obviously taped onto his chin, "I will succeed you as Fire Lord, and bring our nation to glory."_

_Zuko knew one thing for certain, and that was not how that conversation actually transpired; his eyes darted to his uncle, who looked down, almost with shame, before turning around. His uncle was silent as he walked away, a few of the commoners eyeing him with realisation as they came to understand who exactly he was; the Prince grasped him on the shoulder, wanting to assure his uncle, knowing that it was just a play, a poor reflection of the truth._

_"Uncle, that's not how it happened." he told him, the retired general's eyes darting back to him._

_"Wh-what?" he raised a brow, seemingly confused by his words._

_"Father didn't inherit the throne like that." he simply told Iroh, whose glance became far less confused and more concerned._

_"And how would you know that?" he asked the banished prince, who cleared his throat._

_"Well, for one, I was there for some of it, and the rest of it, Azula saw. I don't trust her word, but she couldn't have been lying about everything."_

_"What are you trying to tell me, nephew?" he pressed on, sounding intrigued but also concerned; as wise as his uncle was, he didn't know everything, especially when it came to the affairs of the Royal Palace when he was on the other side of the world._

_"Father demanded your birthright after Lu Ten was killed in battle." he simply told him the fact of the matter, "Now, I left the room when I saw Grandfather get all agitated, but Azula told me that he demanded that if father wanted the throne so badly, he would have to kill me to get it."_

_"Kill you?" the retired general shivered with fear, "Why- my own father..." he mumbled with absolute disgust, the look on his face the most emotionally tender he had seen on his uncle in many years._

_"The worst thing is, Uncle... he probably asked that because of his loyalty to you." he admitted, before he looked at him poignantly, "Your father, he loved you, for better or for worse."_

_"That's... that's horrible. And your father... he obviously didn't go through with that." he observed the obvious fact of the matter; Zuko was standing before him, alive and well._

_"I think that's why my mother left, and why grandfather died. I don't know what happened, but something did." he simply concluded, making his uncle look back at him with an uneasy look._

_"I'm sorry, nephew." he admitted, the Prince looking at him with confusion._

_"S-sorry? Why are you sorry? You're the one who just had to witness your biggest failure again." he asked him, unsure why his uncle would be feeling bad for him in a time when he himself ought to feel some kind of distress from what he had experienced._

_"Because if what you just told me was true, my failure could have cost you your life. For better or for worse, my father died, and none of that ever had to occur."_

_"F-father wouldn't have killed me." Zuko grit his teeth at his uncle, who looked away, sniffling with melancholy._

_"I'm sorry, Prince Zuko. I'm truly sorry."_

* * *

Wiping the sleep from his eyes, Zuko sighed, knowing that he dreaded what he might have to see as he awoke; he knew he shouldn't worry so much about his sister, but her rather extreme reaction and actions when they had gone to find Yon Rha had truly sent a shiver down his spine. Even though all of that transpired a number of days prior, and everyone had seemed to have calmed down, he knew that his sister was still her own worst enemy. He knew that she was was teetering on the edge, and he didn't know what to do; he was reminded of a more warm, calming aspect of his life as Suki's hand clasped on his chest, pulling him back down onto the bed.

"Not so fast, your highness." she chided him, making him look back at her with a smile; for once, being called in such a matter didn't seem to be a formality, but endearing.

Their lips made contact for a moment, making all of his other thoughts disappear for just a second, as he felt the pure bliss of her touch; it went as quickly as it came, and he sighed, looking back up to the ceiling, remembering that he was sleeping in his own bedroom, or more accurately, where he had once slept as a child, in his family's beach-house. Half of the group had come to the beach-house to help Aang prepare to face his father, while the rest of the group, which consisted of the other Kyoshi Warriors, Hakoda, Teo, Haru and The Duke took the airship and flew off to find safety in the Earth Kingdom, hoping to shake off the Fire Nation forces that were searching for them.

He somehow felt a certain sadness having left the Kyoshi Warriors again, knowing that they were almost like family to him at that point, having spent a good portion of his year stuck with them, and then the other part of it trying to break them out of prison. He was glad at the very least that he still had Suki by his side, who was rather saddened to leave her friends, but swore that she would remain by his side until the Fire Lord was defeated. Their friends ought to be safer without the massive targets that would be on the heads of the Prince, Princess and the Avatar, after all, so both of them came to terms with it quite quickly, as much as it felt so lonely without their bickering and mockery.

"So... are you going to train Aang today?" his girlfriend inquired, making him chuckle; there wasn't going to be a day until his father's defeat where that wouldn't be the case.

"Definitely, although I can probably relax for a little longer." he suggested, raising his head momentarily, making out the sound of his sister shouting at the Avatar in the distance, "Azula's doing my job for me... I think."

"That's helpful." she told him, her lips curling suggestively before she kissed him once more; this next kiss was far more enticing for the two of them, with Suki climbing on top of him as she kissed his neck; he was about to say something romantic or witty, but was cut off abruptly by a knock on the door.

"Hey, Sparky!" Toph called on him, making him groan with frustration; of all the times she could barge in on him, it was when he and his girlfriend were enjoying eachother's company.

"What is it, Toph?" he asked her, the young earthbender snickering at him before she responded.

"Oh, just wondering if you could come out and handle your sister. She's a bit... over the top, when it comes to her training of Aang."

"Of course, she is." he sighed, Suki climbing off of him with a similarly frustrated face, "I'll be out in a second."

"Yeah, yeah, go get your pants on." Toph joked before she walked away, continuing to laugh at her own jokes, much to his chagrin; he, for a fact, was wearing pants, but that was beside the point, as he got the implication of her words.

Pulling himself up from bed, he grabbed his robes from the side of the bed, pulling them over his chest, before he tightened them, making sure that he didn't look dishevelled when he was going to be teaching firebending; he wasn't some kind of street urchin, after all, he was a prince of the Fire Nation. He looked back to Suki, who gave him a rather smug grin in return.

"Looking smart." she complimented him, before she eyed downward, "Looks like you forgot something though."

He looked down and realised that he was fully dressed other than the fact he was barefoot; seeing that it was Ember Island, he knew he really didn't need to wear shoes all that much, but seeing that he was wearing all of his other clothes, he ought to complete the outfit. Pulling his boots over his feet, he chuckled to himself, thinking that he had nearly forgotten to put them on, his eyes darting up to take note of Suki rising to her feet, grabbing her own outfit, which was a simple crop top and skirt, more suitable for the weather than her warrior's robes.

"Are you coming out?" he asked her, the warrior gesturing to the door.

"Of course. I'm not going to sit in my room all day. Maybe Sokka will grace me with the opportunity to kick his butt again." she joked, the Prince raising a chin at the thought of the last beating she had given him.

"I'd like to see that." he smiled at her, before turning his heels, calling out to Toph, who he assumed was still waiting outside, "I'm coming!"

When he opened the door, he saw the little earthbending girl standing before him tapping her left foot impatiently, "I can see through a paper door with my feet, you know?"

"Oh..." he mumbled, "How much attention were you paying to us, may I ask?"

"Enough." she made a smug grin, the Prince grimacing at the thought of what else she might have sensed with her earthbending.

Although he felt rather embarrassed for a few moments, he quickly followed after her as she made her way down the hallway, her smug look not fading very quickly; she momentarily turned to face him before they reached the front door, looking at him wistfully.

"So... can we have a field-trip?" she asked of him, making the Prince sigh.

"Well... ignoring the fact that we have to worry about the comet and defeating my father, what would you even want to do?"

"Hmph... something enlightening." she suggested, making Zuko chuckle, thinking how blunt and non-spiritual the girl before him was, despite her request.

"Enlightening? Well, we'll see about that one." he joked before opening the door, stepping out onto the front porch, turning his head to the sound of Aang crying out in fear.

"Ahhh! Hot! Hot!" he heard the young Avatar scream out, looking at his sister, who was simply throwing fire balls at him, which he seemingly couldn't dodge, or perhaps, was being told not to; one step of understanding firebending, he knew, was to comprehend the principles behind it, some of which smacked airbending right across its graceful, non-combative face.

He sighed, approaching the pair, who were being watched by Katara, whose expression indicated that perhaps training had gotten out of hand, "A little break?!" Aang requested, the Princess throwing a fireball at his legs, which he was forced to disperse with firebending rather than using his staff, as he'd expect him to.

"No! The Fire Lord won't take a break in your fight, so neither will you!" she declared, making the Prince laugh at his sister's attitude; she was right, of course, but he realised that throwing fireballs at Aang wasn't going to necessarily improve his control, but simply make him more prone to his usual tactics of dodging and neutralising firebending, when he should be combating it head on.

"Okay, okay." Zuko called out his sister, who momentarily relented, her eyes darting back up to face him, "Calm down. How about I take over for a little bit, I'm sure Aang might be relieved with a different approach."

"Uh... definitely." the Avatar made an awkward smile to the two royal siblings, who both eyed each other, the Princess seeming rather offended by her brother's intervention.

"Oh... is that how we're going to do it, Zuzu. Bad tutor, nice tutor?"

"I'm not the 'nice' one." the Prince refuted her simplification of their training styles, "I just want him to master control over firebending, not be exhausted by a pummelling of fireballs." he gestured to Aang, who was audibly panting as he rested his hands on his knees.

"Fine." his sister raised her chin, "Teach him the long way."

"It's not the long way, it's the correct one. I hated Uncle's training myself, but in hindsight, I understand what he was trying to show me. You cannot master firebending without mastering the core principles behind it."

"Breath?" Aang piped up, before dropping his brow, "That's it right?"

"Breath is the most basic idea." Zuko acknowledged with a nod, "But that's not what I'm talking about. Your firebending is a little flimsy, it's like you're airbending with flames, which can 'work', but it works as well as a waterbender trying to imitate earthbending."

"That'd be pretty funny." Toph piped up, turning to Katara, "Maybe you should try that, Sugar Queen?"

"Sounds like a waste of time." the Water Tribe girl dismissed her suggestion.

"Uh... but yeah, back to the point. You need to learn how to concentrate your strength; firebending, if you lack control or motivation, can be wild, dangerous or at worst, completely ineffective." he stressed, stepping closer to the Avatar with a stern look, "Now, I want you to concentrate your mind. Remember back to... you know when." he reminded Aang of their time with the Sun Warriors, "You needed motivation to power your bending. Now, I know you're already pretty motivated, and you've got a lot of people counting on you, so I know you have it in you, Aang." he assured him, placing a hand on his shoulder, "But you need to direct that strength, your inner fire, and use it sparingly. Any more fire you bend than you need to is a waste of breath... literally."

"That is exactly right, brother." Azula complimented him, making a smug grin, "It looks like someone was paying attention to firebending theory after all."

"When you have Uncle droning it into during every training session, it gets stuck your head." he tapped the side of his skull, making both her and the Avatar laugh at him; Zuko's expression turned being more serious after a few moments, "But when you are facing on power head-on, don't relent. You need to use all the strength you can muster in that instance, because otherwise you might end up dead."

The expressions on both their faces changed, Aang's into one of fear, while Azula's turned to one of confidence, "That is also correct, brother. When you face our father, Aang, you need to be ready to deal down all your strength; use all the elements at your disposal, and be ready to confront fire with fire."

The Avatar nodded with a grimace, understanding what he would have to do; Zuko placed a hand on his shoulder, realising that the responsibilities that had been placed on him were a serious matter, "Now, I don't expect you to be able to beat my father with firebending alone, but you need to be skilled enough to stop him." he explained, before he snapped his fingers, "Zula, I think we're going to need a demonstration."

"My pleasure." she smirked confidently, the Avatar looking at her fearfully before the two of them walked away from each other to opposing sides of the courtyard.

"I don't want you to dodge. I want you to fight her." he stressed, before gesturing to his sister, whose devious glare didn't escape him, "Imagine that she's the Fire Lord. Trust me, she's the best comparison to make when it comes to what you'll be dealing with."

he stepped back, eyeing Suki who had just exited the house, sitting beside Katara, while his girlfriend came to sit with them, "So... are we just going to watch them fight?"

The Prince chuckled at her words, "I guess. What I'm really waiting for is Aang to bite back. I know he has the strength in him, he just needs to direct it."

"I hope this works." the Water Tribe girl mumbled, "He's got to master firebending, doesn't he?"

"Unless the Avatar State can really beat my father without a doubt, then yes; I'm unsure if he'll be able to redirect lightning when he can't even control his own body. Speaking of which, I think I should probably teach him that technique."

A few moments later, Azula sent out a massive stream of fire with both of her hands, Aang standing his ground, and cutting right through it with both of his hands outstretched, before he bent the flames down to the ground around him; the Prince's jaw dropped, seeing how well he was holding against her, although that quickly changed when she moved to sending a quick succession of jabs his way. The Avatar dispersed her attacks as best he could, quickly moving into a stance that he recognised; it was one of the positions from the Dancing Dragon, with his left foot forward, facing side-ways toward Azula with an outstretched arm, which he used to bend a stream of flames her way. She jumped over the stream, sending a kick of flames his way, which he was able to duck, after which he sent out two fireballs, which she was barely able to disperse, with her own bending. She landed on the ground, ready to take his next hit, another stream of flames, this time coming out of his mouth, much to the surprise of Zuko; seeing someone other than his uncle use that specific technique in a fight was rather interesting, to say the least. Aang ducked under her next attack before sending a jab right at Azula, striking her in the gut and making her stumble back.

"Ow!" she grunted, before her eyes darted up to face him, a smirk forming on her face, "You actually hit me..." her face turned to an excited grin, raising a fist into the air, "Now! Do it again!" she demanded of him, before she was interrupted by Sokka walking up into the courtyard with a wide grin on his own face, holding up a piece of paper.

"You guys are not going to believe this! There's a play about us." he exclaimed, showing them the poster, "Look! I was in town and I found this poster." the poster itself depicted Katara, Sokka, and Aang with three silhouette figures in the background, which didn't take much to figure out depicted himself, his sister and Zhao, of all people.

"What?" Katara looked on aghast, "How is that possible?"

"Listen to this..." the Water Tribe boy turned the poster around reading from it, "The Boy in the Iceberg is a new production from acclaimed playwright Pu-on Tim, who scoured the globe gathering information on the Avatar, from the icy South Pole to the heart of Ba Sing Se. His sources include singing nomads, pirates, prisoners of war, and a surprisingly knowledgeable merchant of cabbage. Brought to you by the critically acclaimed Ember Island Players."

Zuko groaned at the mentioning of that specific acting troupe, "Ugh! My mother used to take us to see them. They butchered Love Amongst the Dragons every year!"

"Sokka, do you really think it's a good idea to attend a play about ourselves?" Katara questioned her brother, who made a grin at them all, "Come on, a day at the theatre? This is the kind of wacky time-wasting nonsense I've been missing!"

"I'm not looking forward to a propaganda piece that defames us." Azula raised a brow, her brother nodding with agreement.

"This will be bad. Not just because of the bad acting, but because it's made by the Fire Nation. This isn't going to show any of us in the best light."

"Come on! It can't be that bad." the almost giddy Water Tribe teen prodded them, Suki rising up.

"It can't be that bad... let's give it a shot, at least."

* * *

Suki regretted ever considering that she wanted to go see the play she was watching; she had just witnessed what she would call a poor rendition of her fight with Azula, Mai and Ty Lee, although she did realise that it was accurate in some regards. One of the actors representing a Kyoshi Warrior did indeed nearly kill Azula, which made her snicker, remembering how shocked the Princess was by that moment Amari nearly slit her throat. She herself was watching with slight displeasure, as her brother eyed her with a rather annoyed glare, remembering all too well that she lay responsible for Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors imprisonment.

"A-ha, you stood no chance against I, Princess Azula." the actress mocked the defeated Kyoshi Warriors, "I'll be sure to give my brother, Prince Zuko, your regards."

"You won't get away with this. Zuko will defeat you!" actor Suki proclaimed, before she was dragged away by the actresses representing Mai and Ty Lee.

Suki snickered, knowing that that was not how the conversation had gone, although the rather uneasy look on the actual Princess's face indicated that she may have regretted what she did.

"Wow... so that's how it went down?" Sokka asked her with an intrigued glance, the Kyoshi Warrior nodding with a grimace.

"Well, we were defeated." she admitted, the Water Tribe warrior's eyes widening as he pointed down to the stage.

"W-wait, guys! I think this is the part where we find Appa!" he explained, the Prince clearing his throat.

"Don't you mean when I found Appa." he raised a finger, the Water Tribe boy ignoring him as he looked intently down at the stage, the curtains beginning to open, revealing what looked like a cave.

"Now, where are the Earth Kingdom keeping my beloved sky-bison?" Aang's actress exclaimed, the actor Sokka sighing with annoyance.

"Yeah, I can't keep walking everywhere! I'm going to die of exhaustion!"

The audience laughed, but none of them did, the actual Sokka cringing at the joke, "Yeah okay, I rescind what I said before. I thought we were-" he began, before they were cut off by the sound of a pyrotechnical effect going off.

Actors portraying Dai Li agents jumped out, using props that looked to be paper cut-outs of rocks to hit the actors of Sokka, Katara, Aang and Toph; the actor representing the young earthbending girl made his 'sonic scream', before picking up a prop rock himself, throwing it at the Dai Li agents.

"Ha, take that!" he raised a fist, making the actual Toph smirk confidently.

"I just kicked all their butts, didn't I?" she asked them, forcing the group to nod along in confirmation.

"Yeah... that's what just happened." Katara clarified, before suddenly, an actor popped onto stage, the Blue Spirit, who had somehow still not been conflated with Zuko in the play; he had already saved the Kyoshi Warriors from the Fire Nation before appearing suddenly just then in Ba Sing Se, contrary to the fact that the Prince was the Blue Spirit.

"It's the Blue Spirit, he's come to help us!" actress Aang exclaimed with surprise.

"Yes I have, and I found your sky-bison!" he showed off the imitation of the sky-bison, which made a roar.

"How can we repay you?" the actor Katara asked him.

"Some new swords. Your sky-bison ate my other ones." the actor gestured to the fake Appa, making the real Zuko face-palm.

"Oh... you've got to be kidding me."

"The Blue Spirit as comedic relief... that's not something I saw coming." Sokka looked at him with a rather bewildered, almost smug grin.

The curtains were closed once more and Suki turned to face her boyfriend, who was grimacing, "Urgh... I hope the next part isn't as stupid as that."

"Well, it's not ever going to be completely accurate, is it?" she asked him, the Prince sighing, before Aang grumbled.

"At least your portrayals are somewhat realistic! I'm being played by a woman who doesn't take anything seriously!"

"I can agree that the first parts a bit dumb..." Azula raised the finger, "But the latter, that's the truth spitting you in the face."

"Hey. That was uncalled for." Katara eyed her with an annoyed face.

"Stop arguing, the curtains are going to open again!" Sokka hushed them, before as he just said, the curtains opened before them, revealing another location, that being what looked like a tea shop; before them stood actor Zuko and Iroh, the latter of which was sleeping while the other was sweeping the store.

"Uncle, stop dozing off!" actor Zuko chided him, before the sound of a door ringing open was made, the two of them looking to see what was obviously actor Azula dressed up as Suki, making her face-palm at the imitation, which she knew was somewhat close to whatever the reality had been, "You're back!" the actor brightened up, before actor Azula approached.

"Yes, I am, brother." she told him, making the actor representing her boyfriend reel back in shock, looking surprised.

"Argh! Azula, what are you doing here?"

"Looking for you brother. We need to defeat the Avatar, together."

"I guess you're right." the actor Prince scratched at his chin, "Uncle, we're done. No more tea-shop or cake! You're a traitor!" he exclaimed, pointing at Iroh accusingly, before he was captured by the two actresses representing Mai and Ty Lee.

"That's not how it happened at all." Zuko rolled his eyes, frustrated by the plays obvious inaccuracy.

"For one, I was there." Katara raised a finger, "And it was at the palace."

"And I didn't betray Uncle." he grumbled, "They're making that part up. He joined you guys, didn't he?"

"I don't know how they mixed that part up." Sokka scratched at his chin, "Maybe that's how the Fire Nation actually thought it went down."

"Did you actually confuse Azula for me?" the Kyoshi Warrior questioned her boyfriend, who blushed, shaking his head profusely.

"No. That was Katara." he refuted her question, making her curl her lips; although she wouldn't accuse him of being a liar, that seemed like something he would lie about.

"I thought you were pretty convinced for a moment there." the Water Tribe girl suggested, making him clench his fists with anger.

"I didn't!" he almost shouted at her, forcing Suki to place a hand on his shoulder.

"She was just joking." she told him reassuringly, before the Water Tribe girl chuckled to herself.

"I wasn't." she affirmed her stance, before she found herself whacked in the back of the head by Azula.

"Shut up now. You're acting all cocky, but haven't yet witnessed me defeating you all in my awesome glory."

"It wasn't that awesome, and we were probably going to win if it weren't for Zuko." Aang told her, making her look back at him with a serious glare.

"Don't test me, Avatar. I can still 'train' you a little harder."

* * *

"Why are you so sour, Zuzu?"

The Prince looked up to face his sister, who was feeling in a rather mocking mood; although her own portrayal wasn't horrible, Azula felt rather uneasy witnessing all of her achievements, or perhaps in some cases, mistakes that might have felt like achievements. She knew the best way to fix a bad mood was to prod her brother, who was feeling even worse than she was; the Avatar and his friends joking about his portrayal, which made him seem even more stiff and humourless, as well as a bit of an idiot.

"I'm not sour. I'm pissed off about this whole thing. It's making me like an idiot!" he raised his fists up.

Toph, who was sitting beside him, snickered at his reaction, "It's not that bad a portrayal, Sparky." she suggested, before laughing, "At least you're not played by a woman." 

"Urgh. This whole thing is just stupid. They even make fun of my relationship with Suki." he clenched his fists, the Princess raising a chin.

"The last bit was the defeat of the Avatar at your hands. You know what comes next?" she asked the Prince, who sighed.

"The invasion." he simply acknowledged, before Toph narrowed a brow in thought.

"Huh, isn't that when the Fire Lord whooped your butt?" she asked Azula, who shook her head.

"I think you're remembering that wrong. You were beaten by the Dai Li, I might remember." she mocked the little earthbending girl, who clenched her teeth with anger.

"Hey! I fought as hard as I could." she declared, the Princess crossing her arms.

"So did I." she agreed with the sentiment; that day had been a challenge, and ultimately a failure, but they had all fought with the intention to win, and by that, she meant to defeat her father.

"But it wasn't good enough, was it?" Zuko questioned them both, "I have a growing feeling of... I don't know what to call it. But I feel like we're walking into this fight with our father, and we don't even know for sure if we can win."

"We can win." Azula assured her, before gesturing to Toph, "If all else fails, 'the greatest earthbender in the world' can ensnare him underground, can't you?"

She grinned at the acknowledgement, nodding with agreement, "I could sure give it a try, although... couldn't he just break through it?"

"Our father's the strongest firebender alive, but without Sozin's Comet, I doubt he'd be able to beat you if you caught him off guard." the Princess noted the young earthbender's skill, knowing that her abilities meant that it was possible for her to take down their father, assuming that he didn't zap her first.

Suddenly a little boy ran past them, pointing at her brother, "Your Zuko costume's pretty good, but your scar's on the wrong side." he told him before running off, the Prince pulling the cloak over his face while Azula broke down laughing.

"Ahahaha! That's brilliant." she exclaimed, before her expression became more serious, "But also, the fact that he thought you were wearing a 'Zuko costume' shows that people can recognise you."

"Maybe you should wear some make-up or something?" Toph suggested, the Prince tilting his chin up defiantly.

"I'm not doing that... and how would you even know that? You're blind." he questioned her authority on such a matter, making her look back at him snidely.

"I know what make-up is, dummy." she chided him, "And even if I can't see your scar, I'm pretty sure it might help."

"Wait, so you can't see my scar?" the Prince asked her, the young girl turning to face Azula.

"What does it look like?"

"I mean... you're blind, how can I describe it?" she questioned her, uncertain how to phrase something to someone who hadn't ever really seen anything in her entire life.

"The texture. I don't know. Just tell me how it is." she requested, the Prince standing up with a scowl on his face.

"Urgh. I've had enough of this. Just leave me alone." he growled at the two of them before he walked on back toward their seats.

"So..." Toph turned to face her, the Princess sighing.

"It's like a bit of steak, over where his right eye should be."

"Steak, huh? Like a big bit of meat?" she questioned Azula, who nodded, making her chuckle.

"Huh... no wonder he's getting all angsty over it. Who'd want a big bit of meat on their face?" she asked her rhetorically, making the Princess laugh momentarily before she looked down, feeling a sense of regret over making fun of her brother, especially over such a sensitive matter; she didn't usually feel bad about making fun of anyone, but Zuko didn't exactly deserve to be made fun of over something like his scar, seeing how he had earned it in the first place.

"I think he isn't going to improve in his mood." she admitted, Toph raising a brow at him.

"Huh, why'd you think that?"

"Because I know this play isn't over. Where do think it will go once it's caught up to the present day?"

"Well... to us- oh..." she mumbled, realising what future the play would depict.

"Yeah. I'm going to get angry, no matter what. Even though I know what's coming." she declared, knowing how she would react, as much as he would want to hold her feelings back, after all that had happened with Yon Rha.

"Because you don't think we'll lose?" Toph guessed, the Princess shaking her head.

"No, because of the chance that my father will get away with everything he's done."

* * *

Aang's thoughts about his relationship with Katara were quickly pushed to the side when he bore witness to the future he dreaded; he hadn't had a nightmare since the night before the invasion of the Fire Nation, but he was sure that those nightmares would return after what he was about to witness, even with as stupid and jokey as the play he was watching was. The sight of the actor Ozai, standing triumphantly standing in the centre of the stage made him wrench with fear; he had never actually seen the Fire Lord, as when he had helped Azula out of the bunker, he had been knocked out by whatever lightning she had fired back at him.

"With the energy harnessed from that comet, no one will be able to stop the Fire Nation!" he exclaimed, gesturing with his arms up to the prop representing Sozin's Comet.

"Not if I have anything to say about it, Father!" he heard a voice from the side of the stage, that being of actress Azula, who walked out onto the stage, wearing dark robes and a cloak, making her look like some kind of assassin, "Prepare to die!"

"How could my only daughter betray me?!" he exclaimed with a melodramatic tone, posing in shock as a blue streamer was sent his way, which the actor blocked, streamers popping out from underneath him, "You will feel my wrath!" he exclaimed, sending a streamer of flames at actress Azula, who then sent her own streamer back; the two of them moved around the stage, before a massive wave was sent from Ozai, which covered the actress, leaving only a silhouette behind.

"No!" she screamed out, falling into what he could only assume was a trapdoor; he looked over to the Princess, who was grimacing with fear, but her own eyes turned to Zuko, who looked rather angry; not the same kind of angry that he had seen him when training him, but a real kind of anger, the pure kind that he had seen Katara feel when she was going to find Yon Rha.

"Now with my unruly heir out of the way, I am free to finally use the power of the comet to defeat my last real enemy, the Avatar!" actor Ozai declared, and on cue, the actress representing Aang himself descended done with a glider from the roof.

"You will not win, Fire Lord!" she exclaimed, as confident as he would expect himself to be in such a situation.

"No, you will not win. With the power of Sozin's Comet, I am unstoppable."

"Maybe for just the Avatar, but not the Avatar and a master firebender!" actor Zuko made himself known, appearing on the other side of the stage from the actor Fire Lord.

"My son! You have finally returned to face your punishment!" he grinned sending a streamer at the actor Zuko, who sent out his own streamers in response, while the actress jumped down making imitations of earthbending and firebending, rocks and streamers moving around the stage.

Aang grimaced, watching the actors jump around, Ozai's actor obviously taking the upper hand with the imagined fight, sending two streamers out of each hand at both other actors, who moved backward, pretending to be harmed by the flames.

"Together!" the actress shouted out, both of them sending flames toward the Fire Lord, who jumped up, sending a wave of flames at the actress, a red sheet flying over her, making her move around, screaming out in a wallowing voice.

"No! It can't be!" she called out, falling down to the ground, acting as if she had been burnt to a crisp, making Aang cringe, feeling as if he was about to throw up.

"You can't do this, father!" actor Zuko shouted out, sending more steamers his way, before actor Ozai cackled.

"I have the power of the comet, I'm unstoppable!" he shouted out, "You are all traitors, and you will die a traitors death!" he declared, before sending streamers his way.

The actor representing the Prince was hit over and over again by streamers of flames, before he fell to his knees, looking down with shame, "It is no use. He is truly unstoppable."

Then the actor was covered by a red sheet, just has Aang's had been, making the Avatar look to his friend with a grimace; he stood up, looking at the actor representing his father for a moment, before walking out of the room without a word, while the rest of them turned their attention to the stage, where the actor Fire Lord was been raised up by a platform.

"I've done it. The Avatar has been defeated, and now I am unopposed. The dreams of my father, and my father's father, have now been realised." before a Fire Nation flag stopped, "The world is mine!"

The audience cheered, and Aang looked down with shame, realising that what he had just seen was the fate they would face if he failed; he knew he couldn't fail, but he had already seen what Azula could do. Her Father would be even stronger and unrelenting; he didn't know how he could defeat him, even with the Avatar State, if the comet came around before they had a chance to win.

"That's it." the Princess mumbled, "That's the future." she turned to face him, the Avatar not knowing what to say in response.

"We can still win." Katara assured him, "I know we can."

"As the play pointed out, that is just what you hope, not the reality that we face." Azula retorted, before she stood up, looking to where Suki had been seated, "I'm going to find my brother, I'm sure he is going to be in a bad mood."

"That's fair enough, I'm sure Sparky is having a fit over what he just saw." Toph acknowledged, before the Princess turned back to face him.

"There's one other thing." she raised a finger, stepping closer to him.

"What is it?" he asked her.

"Promise me that you'll kill him."

"Wh-what?" he mumbled, aghast that she was asking that of him, after what they had all seen.

"You need to do it. We all know it, so I want to make it clear." she stressed, turning to face Sokka and Toph, "Isn't that right?"

"She has a point, Aang." the Water Tribe boy admitted, "You need to do it, otherwise we're all doomed."

"Not just that, you need to destroy the fleet of airships he'll be sending to attack the Earth Kingdom."

"The what?!" Sokka exclaimed with shock, "Why didn't you mention that earlier?"

"Because I wanted Aang to beat him before he can even try to do that." she admitted, before turning around, "But now I know that's not going to happen. Sozin's Comet is less than a week away. We need to prepare, and you all need to be ready to face the worst battle you're ever going to fight."

"I will prepare..." Aang assured her, before turning to face the stage, where the massive Fire Nation flag still stood by the platform where actor Ozai had been standing, "And I will defeat him, I have to."

"Good. Now, excuse me, I have an angsty brother to attend to."

As she left the room, the Avatar turned to face Katara, before he looked down, "I'm sorry." he apologised, remembering back to what he had done earlier; trying to kiss her was one of the stupidest things he had done, and he had honestly done it out fear- he didn't know if he'd have another chance to do it.

"No, you don't have to say that. I understand what you've been going through. This is the most important thing you'll ever have to do." she assured him, "We believe in you, Aang." she placed a hand on his shoulder, Toph punching his shoulder a moment later, almost as if on key.

"Yeah, that's right, Twinkletoes. No, matter how afraid we get, we're in this together."

Sokka looked down at the stage before approaching them, "As much as it pains me to say this, but... group hug?"

Katara pulled him in, the four of them hugging it out; Aang smiled, knowing that even with as afraid as he was, he had to stay confident. His friends were what counted, even Azula, who despite her attitude, was truly part of their group, and wanted to see him succeed; he would win for them, because he had no one else to win for. An image of Monk Gyatso laughing came into his mind, remembering the time before he awoke from the iceberg, knowing that even if he could never get it back, he would try and make the most of what he had; that moment of clarity was more than what he needed to show him what he needed to do.

"We'll win, together."


	58. Defying Destiny

_To Fire Lord Ozai, the feeling of fear was something that he knew had to be vanquished; it was a weakness that would prevent him from achieving his desires, because with fear, came relent, and with relent came an inability to act. The irony of his feeling was that it was because of his own son's relentlessness; his victory against Zhao, however meagre it was in comparison to the quest he had laid forward for him, proved something, that his daughter had most bluntly told him, his had lesson worked. He did not expect such tenacity out of his son, who he honestly believed would resign himself to his banishment, leaving the future of his nation to his sister, who he believed both of them knew to be the far more competent heir. He realised that in his lulling over the situation he had found himself in, with an heir was more than capable of dealing down his grievances, he had remained silent for far longer than he ought to have; the tapping of Azula's boot reminded him of that very fact._

_"Yes..." he raised his eyes to face her own, "You are right. If the Avatar is out there, hiding, and your brother finds him, then it may be the case he will finally redeem himself." he concluded, although the uncertainty in his words did not escape his daughter's ears._

_"He will." she restated her own certainty on the matter, before she smirked at him, "Are you pleased that Uncle hasn't ruined your son with his idiotic morals?"_

_He narrowed his glare at his daughter, considering that she was right in saying that his foolish brother's teachings had been ignored by Zuko, who he would have been advised against going to fight Zhao; Ozai also knew that his daughter, however young and naive she was, even despite her years of training, had her own games to play with her brother. He wouldn't disapprove of that behaviour if it weren't inadvertently subverting his own authority as their father, knowing that if his son and daughter didn't despise each other, they would grow to despise him, just as he had toward his own father._

_"I... I believe that he has been set on the right path." Ozai clarified his own opinion, although he didn't express the full sense of unease he had about his son's growth as both a firebender and a person._

_He knew that if they were strong enough, and had the will, they would grow to hate him just as he had to his own father; he could even say that Iroh must have grown to hate the old fool, eventually, as despite his own weakness, seemed to have a spine when it came to who he chose to dislike. His principles were and continued to be contradiction to that of their father, something that would make even a tea-loving moron like him despise their father, who had been more than forgiving of his failings. Ozai himself was not under any illusion that he was the best father, but he knew that everything he did was in line with his principles, the strong over the weak, and to never show compromise or weakness in the face of adversity. His son was a weakling, and the Fire Lord showed no compromise to punishing that weakness; now with Zuko finally showing his own strength, he couldn't help but feel a sense of dread. He had set it into motion, and now he had no idea how far his son would go to 'redeem' himself._

_"So... what will become of Commander Zhao?" his daughter asked of him, Ozai sighing as he looked back down to the document in his hands, knowing that the reputation of a single officer didn't concern him at all._

_"Zhao is a loyal servant of the Fire Nation. He will maintain his rank, because I believe he is capable of doing what is necessary to win this war." he stressed, remembering back to a very distinctive request the Commander had made a while prior about an invasion plan of the North Pole; as foolish and vacuous his plans were, the Fire Lord knew that the resolve required to even ask that of his monarch was something that he could hold a small bit of respect for._

_Azula's eyes narrowed at him, almost hatefully, although he was unsure if the hatefulness was being directed at him or the Commander, "I understand. Your wisdom has never failed you father." she assured him, although he knew her words were sarcastic; he would not reprimand her, knowing that doing so would suggest he knew about her own rebellious tendencies._

_As loyal as his daughter was to him and his principles, he knew that she was in that position out of a desire to fulfil greatness for herself, rather than out of any actual love for him; he didn't want her to love him, he rather wanted her to respect him and, if necessary, fear him. She did not want what was best for the Fire Nation, but rather what was best for herself; he knew that those two ideas coincided for him, as he was the Fire Lord, but Azula's concerns were more complex than his own, such as the dogged loyalty she held to her brother._

_"Now, was there something else you wanted, daughter?" he asked of her, hoping to incite a response that would clear up her motivations a little further, knowing that certainty helped with understanding the girl before him, who seemed to lie to his face more often than not._

_"No, father. I will take my leave." she dismissed herself, the Fire Lord raising a hand to gesture to the door._

_"Close the door on the way out. I do not want to be disturbed again." he stressed, his daughter nodding with an understanding glare, "I have things to attend to."_

_"Of course, father. Have a good afternoon." she courteously farewelled him, closing the door and locking it behind her._

_He knew for a fact that he needed to get back into reading the report in front of him; it was from War Minister Qin, detailing the production of a new model of tundra tanks that were being deployed on the front lines against the Earth Kingdom. He didn't personally cared as much for the matter, but he knew that now he needed to distract himself from the thoughts he had at hand; his weakness would need to be squashed, and if it required him to read through the most boring logistical reports he could find, then that is what he would do. Fire Lord Ozai would not find himself concerned about the threat that mere children could put against his might or authority as the ruler of his nation; he was indomitable, and was certain that he would remain so until his last breath._

* * *

"Do I need to remind you of what we're fighting for?!"

Azula cringed at her brother's shouting voice, although she agreed completely with him; remembering the fact that the Fire Lord, her father, was going to burn down the Earth Kingdom with Sozin's Comet ought to be a very good motivation for Aang to continue his training. The Avatar himself was panting after he had just completed another set, where he had shown both ferocity and skill, although her brother seemed to think it wasn't good enough; she did, again, agree with him, but she didn't believe it would be the best way to teach Aang by demeaning him for not being as strong as he wanted him to be. She did, however, remember that the comet was only three days away, and pushed that weak thought out of her mind; her father would have to die, and funnily enough, Aang would have to follow the Fire Lord's own principles to win. He needed to push himself to his absolute limit to beat the most powerful firebender alive, bar perhaps herself and her uncle, although she was unsure if either of them could actually beat Ozai in a one-on-one fight.

"Now let me hear you roar like a tigerdillo!" Zuko demanded once again, the Avatar complying by sending rather meagre fire streams out of his mouth and fists, much to her brother's frustration, "That sounded pathetic! I said roar!"

He roared again, this time louder, with his streams of fire bursting out of his fists and mouth rather impressively; Azula clapped at his show of power, her brother nodding along approvingly as well.

"That was quite impressive." she admitted, before she was cut off by Katara, who had just entered the courtyard.

"Who wants a nice cool glass of watermelon juice?" she asked those present with two watermelons in hand.

Aang's face brightened up upon hearing the offer, "Ooh, ooh! Me, me, me!" he beamed, Zuko grabbing him by the cuff of his robes, stopping him from getting any closer to the watermelons.

"Hey! Your lesson's not over yet! Get back here!" he held up him up, stopping the Avatar, despite his efforts, from getting away.

"Come on, Zuko. You can take just a little break." his girlfriend suggested, making him groan with annoyance.

"You do all realise we've only got three days left. Aang needs to master firebending before then!" he voiced his frustrations with a shout, making the group cringe back.

"Zuko's right." Azula stressed with a raised finger, "You all know what's coming."

"I don't mean to be a bummer, but they're right." Sokka admitted, "Aang, you need to focus on training above all else... how about we make a simulated fight against the Fire Lord?"

"A simulated fight?" Zuko raised a brow at him, "You don't mean one of us... oh." he turned to face his sister, "Looks like you can do something other than smugly looking at me drilling Aang." he chided her, the Princess raising her hands defensively.

"I'm helping. I was planning to do just that anyway. I'm the closest comparison to our father there is."

"Smart minds think alike." Sokka grinned, making her roll her eyes.

"Don't give yourself too much credit." she chided the Water Tribe teen, before she turned to face Aang, "Now, you know what we need to do. Let's go somewhere else to try this out, seeing that... we might make too much of a mess."

"Ooh! Does this mean I finally get to fight Azula?" Toph piqued her head up with interest, the princess looking at her with a smug face, raising her chin up.

"Indeed. Although, you'll all be fighting together. If need be, Zuko and I can both pretend to be our father, if only to give you a better taste of his strength."

"That's a little over the top, don't you think?" Katara asked of her, to which she shook her head.

"Never underestimate your opponents." she stressed, making Sokka rise up, scratching at his chin intently like he was some kind of wisened philosopher.

"We'd probably win a lot more with that philosophy." he considered, before whistling, "Now, everyone, let's go find a place to fight each other. This'll be fun... just no lightning." he suggested, the two royal siblings looking at each other.

"That would make it more realistic, wouldn't it?" Zuko suggested, making Aang's eyes widen.

"You're not being serious, are you?" he asked them, the two siblings shaking their heads.

"We are. You really should learn the technique I used against my father." she raised a finger, making him tense up; he had seen the result of that move, but he probably didn't understand that she wasn't prepared to use it in that very moment, and thus failed in redirecting the lightning correctly, as Zuko had told her to.

"Didn't you nearly die the last time you tried that?" the Avatar questioned her, as if to suggest her move was worse than doing nothing.

"Would you rather the Fire Lord kill you, or 'nearly die'?" she refuted his logic, to which he sighed, seeing that his argument was essentially pointless, considering that whatever measure he might take would make him less likely to be killed by their father.

"Fair enough. How exactly does it work?"

The Princess looked to her brother, "Did we need to do a demonstration?" she asked him, genuinely concerned that the Avatar was asking them to do just that.

"No. I'll- I mean, we'll just show you how the technique works." he explained, his self-correction making Azula tilt her chin up with a sense of achievement; she had been the one to redirect their father's lightning, after all, "It involves the flow of energy through your chi paths, essentially. If you let the energy of your body flow, a lightning bolt, if you ever have to face one, will follow it." he explained, making a motion from his left hand down to his gut before using his right hand to motion back out of his body, "You can send the lightning back at them... uh, so you use their energy against them."

"So... it's just like waterbending." he concluded, following Zuko's imitation of the form.

"Exactly. My uncle invented this technique himself by studying waterbenders." the Prince explained the origin of the form, making the young Avatar raise a brow at him.

"So, have you ever redirected lightning before?" he asked him, making Azula step forward.

"He has not... at least I hope not." she admitted, looking to her brother, who shook his head.

"I haven't, but I'm pretty sure Azula can fill you in with the more practical details." he admitted, gesturing to her; Aang's eyes brightened at her, looking like he wanted to drill into her mind at find out the secrets that they held- she unsure if she was being paranoid or not, but his intense staring made her feel uncomfortable pretty quickly.

"So, what did feel like?"

"Well... I didn't do it correctly." she admitted off the bat, "I'm assuming it is meant to be a whole lot less painful; I felt like I was getting burnt from the inside out- there's no other way to describe it, really." she acknowledged, before smirking, "But the power, the power I held in that instance, it was... it was amazing." her eyes widened, realising that she really hadn't considered it that much, having passed out right after the lightning left her body.

"You nearly killed the Fire Lord with it, didn't you?" Aang asked her with an uneasy look, Suki raising a hand.

"I saw that all unfold, and let me just say, yes, she nearly did. If you want to fry the Fire Lord, that's going to be the easiest way to go about it." she offered her own opinion, which seemed quite reasonable, seeing that she had been with Azula the entire time and had seen the consequences of the redirection.

"So... are we going to try and see if you're ready?" Sokka stepped in, making the Avatar raise a brow.

"Ready to fight your 'fake Fire Lord'?" he questioned, the Water Tribe teen placing a hand on his shoulder and Zuko's before gesturing to Azula.

"This is not fake Fire Lord. If it weren't for our good spirit, the Blue Spirit and professional tea-maker, Prince Zuko, she'd still be Crown Princess. That's one step away from Fire Lord."

"All too true, Sokka." she smirked at him, appreciating the recognition when it came her way, before her eyes turned to Aang, the seriousness shining through the unrelenting glare she gave him.

"I will show you what it means to fight for your life."

* * *

"Come on! Do you think you can defeat the almighty Melon Lord!"

Zuko wanted to break down laughing at his sister's hilarious acting, but he was more concerned by the relent that Aang was showing; they had all had to fight against his sister, who was far scarier than he remembered her to be. He realised that she might have been holding back a lot when it came to their sparring, as she was able to hold off both Katara and Toph simultaneously, something he doubted he'd be able to do. Sokka and Suki actually fared a little better than the two benders, probably because she was the kind of opponent they were used to, using their tactical skills against her; Zuko himself hadn't really done much, other than throw some pot-shots to distract Azula while Aang came around to sneak attack her- although she wasn't surprised by the attack, she was rather preoccupied with Toph trying to crush her with her earthbending. The rest of the group was waiting for him to attack, forcing Zuko to respond.

"What are you waiting for? Take him out!" he gestured to the imitation of the Fire Lord that he had refused to hit.

Azula threw a fireball his way, hoping to prod him into action, but he simply pushed her away with earthbending, leaving him standing there beside the imitation with an uneasy face.

"I can't." he mumbled, Sokka approaching him with a concerned face.

"What's wrong with you? If this was the real deal, you'd be shot full of lightning right now."

"I'm sorry, but it just didn't feel right." he tried to justify his inaction, "I didn't feel like myself."

The Water Tribe boy pulled out his jian sword, slicing through the Melon Lord's head, "There, that's how it's done."

"I can't believe this." Azula sighed with annoyance, "You had the chance, and you squandered it."

"I couldn't... you don't understand." he told her, almost dismissively, as he turned away, walking off, the Princess shaking her head.

"Actually, no." she clarified, pulling herself back up to her feet, dusting off the dirt he had thrown onto her with his earthbending, "I'm the only one who can understand, because I had to face him in a life or death situation, and unlike you, I actually once respected my father. I could even say that I loved him, like any child should." she told him, her eyes darting to her brother, who felt uneasy upon hearing what she was saying; it was his truth just the same, because for the longest time, he had tried to make his father love him, and justify all the misdeeds he did to him as lessons, as fair and fatherly, when they were just sick and wrong.

Aang looked back at her, his eyes widening, realising what he had just made her say, "So you're saying... that despite him being your father, you were willing to kill him."

"I didn't know what would happen when I entered that room, but I knew that there was going to be two possible outcomes- one where my brother was Fire Lord, and one where he was not." she admitted, "When I got hit with that lightning, for a moment, I actually thought I was going to die. Do you know that feeling?"

"N-not really... I mean Z-" he began, the Princess shaking her head, preempting what she guessed he was going to say.

"Zuko was never going to kill you, because just like you, he sticks to his principles." she stressed, "But sometimes they've got to bend, and for you, that's so you can save the world."

"Exactly!" Sokka piped up, walking up to his friend, "You've got to understand Aang. No one likes killing people... not even the angry Princess who nearly killed us, multiple times." he gestured to Azula before looking at him with a serious expression, "Come on, please. You have to know that you can't let those rules hold you back from doing what is right."

"How can it be right to kill someone?!" he asked him, almost accusingly, Zuko clenching his fists, having had enough of his attitude; he didn't understand what was at stake, not if he was willing to compromise on sparing the Fire Lord, who would be more than willing to annihilate him.

"Aang! Do you know how many people will die if you don't win? Do you? Are you going to disregard their deaths just because you won't be directly responsible? It's the potential of killing one man to stop him from causing the deaths of thousands... millions of people." he told him, his tone rising higher, stressing the importance of what he was saying; Zuko hadn't suffered from the war himself, but he had seen what had happened, and he didn't want anyone else to suffer the same things that people like Sokka, Katara, Teo, Haru... and even Jet had, "I've had to kill people, people who mightn't have even deserved it. But I did it to protect those who I love. Do you really love your principles more than all the innocents who will die because of them?"

"Zuko!" he heard Katara's voice gasp, Aang turning his heels, not saying a word, "Why did you say that?" she asked him, actually shocked that he had been so angry toward him; the Prince knew that moment of anger was one of the worst he had experienced in months, but he certainly had good reason to feel that way.

"Because it's the truth. Those people... Aang's stupid rules, his morals. They'll all die if he sticks by them. They don't deserve that. It isn't fair." he declared, turning his heels himself, walking in the opposite direction of the Avatar.

"Brother, wait." Azula reached out grasp his arm, Zuko continuing onward; he didn't want to lash out at her either, knowing that with their constant butting of heads, it was more than likely.

His strides were quickly taking him away from the rocky precipice they had gathered at, although he quickly made out the sound of footsteps behind him; it didn't take a genius to figure out that they belonged to his girlfriend, who was rather surprised and shocked by what he had just said.

"Zuko, wait up." she told him, the Prince forcing himself to stop, knowing that he couldn't be angry with her, because he made the same decision she would have; she wouldn't stand for the suffering of innocents, no matter what, and that was one of the many reasons why he loved her so dearly, "I know you're angry, and... I really agree with you."

"I guessed that." he made a small grimace, trying to smile, but knowing he couldn't; there was no time to be happy, not with the truth he had just faced- that the world's only hope, the Avatar, was unwilling to do the one thing he'd have to do to assure that they would all be saved.

She quickly pulled him into a hug, "I'm sorry that you're so angry." she told him, kissing him on the side of the head, reassuring him of her care, even if she had no need to.

"You don't need to say that. This isn't your fault." he assured her, Suki's grimace surprising him more than anything.

"I mean... it kind of is." he admitted, the Prince looking at her with a bewildered face.

"I don't understand... you're not responsible Aang's whole-" he began to try and think out her words, only to be cut off.

"Not Aang... your father. If I hadn't come into the bunker, thinking that the eclipse was about to end and we needed to escape, Azula would have remained focused... and she would have done it."

His eyes widened, realising what she was saying, what she was claiming responsibility for, "You couldn't have known."

"I could have kept my cool. But I didn't. I was stupid, and your sister nearly died because of it, and worse, your father got to continue sitting on that stupid throne of flames for a little longer while we try to persuade the Avatar, who just had to be a pacifist, to go and fight him to the death." she explained, her tone growing more uneasy and nervous with each passing second, Zuko holding her by the arms, trying to comfort her.

"Don't worry. You're not responsible. We can fix this, and we can win, together."

"That's exactly what I was going to say, brother." Azula's voice piped up, making the pair turn to face her, the Prince narrowing his eyes at her.

"What do you mean, Zula?" he asked her, the Princess pointing at the two of them.

"You, me, Suki. We can kill our father." she clarified her idea, the Prince scoffing at her suggestion.

"We can't kill him."

"That's either a lack of determination or fear that I fear, and neither is acceptable. You just said what you said, and you're not willing to face him?"

"I, for one, don't want to die. I know that if he had the guts to do it, Aang would win."

"But he won't, if he doesn't have to." she raised a finger, "Suki, you have to back me up here. We still have time. Sozin's Comet is only three days away."

"She has a point, Zuko. If we call on our friends, get the Kyoshi Warriors and their airship, maybe we could muster up the chance to take down your father."

"So, what, we just go busting in?" he asked the pair, the Princess smirking at him.

"Not exactly." she admitted, "Any kind of action we take needs to be covert, otherwise he'll just send the army in to deal with us."

"So, an assassination?" he asked in clarification, his sister shaking her head.

"You see, brother, being the heirs to the throne affords us a certain level of legality when it comes to this kind of thing."

"Oh, you mean an Agni Kai." he mumbled with realisation, to which she nodded with a smirk.

"The lightning trick only has to work once." she assured him, "If I can depose him in an Agni Kai, the Fire Nation military will be obliged to follow my command."

"But wouldn't that make you Fire Lord?" he questioned the Princess, who raised her hands up, reassuringly.

"Yes, but I can just abdicate in favour of you." she told him, before eyeing them both, "So does that settle it. Are we going to at the very least try to win?"

Suki furrowed a brow, before she turned to face Azula, "So, before or during the comet?"

"Before. I can't risk facing comet-enhanced firebending at the hands of my father. I have doubts already, and I'm sure that he'd win if it were during the comet." she admitted, "if we can't defeat him before the comet, we'll just have to hope that Aang intervenes and wins for us, if he can stomach it. Or Toph- I'm pretty sure she could suffocate him underground."

"Toph's really scary, when you think about it." the Kyoshi Warrior admitted, "Well... are we going to try and persuade Aang? There might be a chance he'll still do it."

"A chance." Azula raised a finger to stress, "I don't try and save the world on the assumption of chances. I want certainty."

"We have to try." Zuko admitted, turning to face his sister with fearful eyes, "I don't want you to die, Zula." he told her the blunt truth of his feelings, his girlfriend looking toward him with a grimace, realising that that was a real potential if they had to face the Fire Lord alone; the look of utter determination on his sister's face seemed to show that she believed his suggestion to be impossible, despite the odds they faced.

"I won't... I won't fail again."

* * *

"I have a surprise for everyone!"

Suki raised her head from eating her meal, looking to Katara, who was holding a scroll up; she would have been a little more interested in it's contents if it weren't for the growing sense of dread she was feeling in her gut. Less than three days, that was all they had until the comet returned and the Fire Lord was nigh unstoppable to anyone but the Avatar himself; she didn't want Azula to face Ozai alone, not after what had happened to her the last time.

"I knew it!" Toph piped up, "You did have a secret thing with Haru!"

Everyone, including the Kyoshi Warrior, gave the little earthbender a well founded look of confusion, although they all quickly returned to eating; her meal was decent, and she wanted to eat a fair bit before she, Zuko and Azula decided what to do, which seemed to be an imminent decision. The Fire Nation wasn't that large, at least in comparison to the massive Earth Kingdom, but they would need time to prepare to return to the capital, where the Fire Lord would be preparing for his own devastating attack on the Earth Kingdom.

"Uh, no. I was looking for cooking pots in the attic, and I found this!" the Water Tribe girl piped up, unravelling the scroll in her hand, revealing a painting a happy baby playing on the beach, who looked suspiciously like her boyfriend, "Look at baby Zuko. Isn't he cute?" she asked the group, making everyone laugh, except for Zuko and Azula, who looked at each other with grimace, "Oh, lighten up. I'm just teasing." she prodded the Prince, his sister clearing her throat.

"You've made a mistake. That's not Zuko, that's our father."

Suki's eyes widened, looking at the scroll for a moment, realising that the happy little baby she was seeing was the man who was going to burn down the Earth Kingdom, who had nearly killed his own daughter and maimed his son.

"He... he looks so innocent." she mumbled, her boyfriend snarling with disdain.

"Well that innocent little kid grew up to be a monster, and the worst father in the history of fathers." he declared rather dramatically, though his words were true to the core; his father was horrible, and no matter what he was once like, he couldn't be redeemed.

"But he's still a human being." Aang spoke for the first time that entire meal, earning the attention of the group.

"Oh, here we go again." Azula sighed with annoyance; Suki agreed with the sentiment, guessing well enough where their conversation would go.

"I agree with you." he stood up, looking to the Prince, "Fire Lord Ozai is a horrible person, and the world would probably be better off without him, but there's got to be a another way."

Her boyfriend cocked a brow with scepticism, "Like what?"

"I don't know. Maybe we can make some big pots of glue, and then I can use gluebending to stick his arms and legs together so that he can't bend anymore." he came up with an ad hoc plan, which honestly to Suki sounded a lot stupider than most of the numerous stupid plans she had heard from her fellow Kyoshi Warriors over the years.

"Yeah, then you can show him his baby pictures, and all those happy memories will make him good again." Zuko added with a clearly sarcastic voice, making Sokka snicker, the humour of the situation not passing without his attention.

"Do you really think that would work?" Aang piped up with an excited voice, the Prince looking at him with genuine anger.

"No!" he shouted, the Avatar beginning to pace back and forth, as if that would help him get out of the dilemma he was in; it certainly wouldn't, but she guessed that he could walk his stress off- a far more tiring alternative to meditation.

"This goes against everything I learned from the monks." Aang tried to argue, "I can't just go around wiping out people I don't like."

"Sure you can." Sokka rose up, raising a hand to gesture to him, "You're the Avatar. If it's in the name of keeping balance, I'm pretty sure the universe will forgive you."

"This isn't a joke, Sokka! None of you understand the position I'm in." he grit his teeth at the Water Tribe boy with pent up anger, looking like he was going to have a screaming fit at all of them.

"That wasn't a joke." Azula added, before she stood up, "And you don't understand the position I'm in."

"Uh... what would that be?" the Water Tribe boy stood up between them, his curiosity allowing the Princess to answer his question with a serious and cold voice.

"Because if Aang doesn't, then I'll be forced to murder my own father." she told him, before turning to face the Avatar, "Do you want me to do that?"

"You think that makes it any better?! There has to be another way!" he shouted at her in return, his anger just as strong as her own.

"We're just trying to help." Katara stood up, turning to face her friend, who looked away from her.

"Then, when you figure out a way for me to beat the Fire Lord without taking his life, I'd love to hear it!" he shouted at them, before turning around, walking away into the distance, not bothering to say anything else.

"Aang, don't walk away from this." she pleaded, the Prince standing up to face his sister.

"I guess this settles it, then." he admitted, Suki looking up to him with a grimace; she didn't want to have to see them face Ozai, but from what it sounded like, it was the only reasonable outcome where they would win.

"What's going on here?" Katara turned to them, the Prince sighing before he looked her way with an uneasy face.

"We're going to find my father... and we're going to kill him ourselves." he told her with a pained, but serious voice, "We're the only ones who can take the throne and get away with it, so we're going to do just that."

"Y-you can't be serious." Toph murmured, standing up, her voice growing to fearful shout, "Sparky! Your dad might kill you!"

"I know that." the Prince tilted his chin up, trying not to look at his girlfriend, whose eyes were looking up at him widely, almost wanting cry; he was so noble, he was so determined to save the innocent, that he was willing to sacrifice his own life for it, "But that's the price I am willing to pay. Aang can't stand to break his morals and I can't stand by and wait for him to change his mind."

"But... we have to do this together." Katara told them, "How can we win otherwise?" she asked them, the Princess stepping forward.

"By striking fast, and without mercy. I don't take this lightly, but I knew that this was always a possibility, even before I joined you." she assured her, as if to make it sound better just because she had always known that killing her father was on the table.

"That doesn't make it sound any better, you know." Sokka simply commented, making her eyes narrow at him.

"Shut up, savage. You know exactly what you did. Don't even act like you regretted it."

"I don't, but that doesn't mean that I was always ready to whack-a-pow any big bad Fire Nation man in the head because I didn't like him." he argued, the reference to the line he had given the Sokka actor in the Ember Island players not escaping Suki's notice; she wanted to laugh, but the serious nature of the conversation forced her to remain quiet.

"You don't need to do this." Katara tried to argue, the Prince turning around.

"No, that's the thing... we do. We don't have a choice anymore."

"There's always a choice." she tried to argue, as if her words would dissuade them.

"That's how Aang justifies his own cowardice." Azula declared, "Being decisive is what we need, and that is what we've decided." she simply told them before turning around, "We're leaving tomorrow morning. You can come with us if you want to help."

"And how exactly are you going to get anywhere?" Sokka raised a brow at them skeptically.

"Majority rules. If the majority want to go defeat the Fire Lord right away, we take Appa, and we do it." Zuko told them, Suki standing up beside him.

"I'm with Zuko. So who else is?" she asked, the Water Tribe boy looking to his sister and Toph.

"I think we should wait for Aang to figure himself out. He'll come around." he told the other two, who nodded with agreement.

"You can't be sure of that." Azula grit her teeth before walking away, back toward the house.

"As much as I want to whack the Fire Lord myself, I think we can't just run into this blindly... no pun intended." Toph told them, making Sokka snicker slightly at her unintentional blind joke, although the punch to his shoulder shut him up pretty quickly.

"We wouldn't be running in blind." Suki declared, gesturing to the Prince beside her, "Zuko and Azula combined have more knowledge on the Fire Lord, the Fire Nation military and all the things we need to prepare for than any two people alive. The only thing to complement this would be Iroh offering a hand... but he's gone off to liberate Ba Sing Se." she admitted, making the prince sigh.

"If only he was here. Maybe his proverbs could persuade Aang better than I can." he sighed with frustration, before looking to the others, "I'm going to bed, but we're not joking. We're going to face the Fire Lord, no matter what."

The leader of the Kyoshi Warriors grasped her boyfriend's hand, "Come on... let's go." she told him, the pair of them walking away, Suki momentarily waving to the others, "Good night, everyone."

They all waved back with uneasy faces, obviously still lulling over what was to come; they all had sides to choose, and even if everyone but Aang was in agreement that the Fire Lord had to be destroyed, some of them were under the presumption that only the Avatar could beat him. Zuko refuted that the only person who could truly face up against his father was Iroh, but as he was not there, the best substitute was his younger, far more eager sister, who despite her confidence, probably was as disturbed by the idea of killing her father as the Prince was.

As they walked back into the house, she turned to face him, knowing that she had to say something, after all that had happened, "Zuko, are you okay?"

"I'm never okay." he admitted with a grimace, "And that's what I hope to end. My father is the one thing that looms over us all, and I just hope that once he's gone, we can finally move on." he admitted, placing her hands over her own, "Together."

"That's what I want too." she made a warm smile, before kissing him on the cheek, "You're in a pretty angry mood. I prefer the angsty, shy Zuko."

"You'll get him back soon enough." he chuckled, before she grasped his hand, pulling him along toward their bedroom.

"Let's get some rest, and then we can face down destiny with less baggy eyes." she suggested to him with a smirk, making him sigh before nodding in acceptance, knowing that she was right; Suki didn't try to be correct, she was just naturally aware of the things she needed to do to feel happy- a decent amount of sleep was one of them.

"That's some good advice if I've ever heard any."

* * *

Tying up his bag, Zuko looked to his girlfriend with an uneasy face; they were ready to leave the house, and once they had gotten Azula on side, they would go on their final journey to the Fire Nation palace, where they would have to face their father. Everyone knew what was at stake, it just happened that they were the ones willing to act upon their knowledge.

"Is that everything?" Suki asked him, gesturing to his bag, which he lifted up onto his shoulder; glancing about their room, he nodded, sure that he didn't need much else but some rations, water, his sleeping roll and the clothes on his back.

"Yep, now, let's find my sister. I'm sure she and Aang are probably at it again." he admitted, the Kyoshi warrior cringing before nodding.

"Yeah... we should probably stop that from happening." she took note of that potential; nobody wanted to have those to break into an actual fight, as it would only do more harm than good.

As they turned to leave the bedroom, the door suddenly opened before them, making them both jump back with fear; he realised immediately that they weren't being attacked, as Sokka was standing before them, looking rather dazed himself, although the concern in his eyes highlighted the importance of his appearance.

"You can't leave!" he pleaded to them, Zuko raising a brow with confusion; of all the group, he seemed to be the most for beside his sister for killing their father, probably because he was the one of the group who had the least qualms when it came to facing down the Fire Nation, for better or for worse.

He raised a brow at the Water Tribe boy, who was preventing him and Suki from leaving the house; he didn't want to have to fight him, but he knew that if it came to that it, would.

"And why is that?" Azula grabbed him by the shoulder, as if she had appeared out of nowhere; he reeled back in shock before glancing at all three of them.

"You can't leave because Aang disappeared." he told them, Zuko raising a brow with confusion.

"Disappeared?" he asked him, the Water Tribe teen nodding intently, before gesturing for them to follow.

"Yeah, Toph pointed it out, and we were looking around, and we found tracks, just walking right into the water, and that was it. He's just... gone."

"So he went out for a midnight swim, and never came back?" Suki asked him with a furrowed brow, Sokka shrugging his shoulders.

"I don't know." he admitted honestly, before turning to face them all with a serious glare, "I need your help- we all need your help. We've got to find him."

"And what do you expect us to do about it?" Azula questioned him, pointing a shoulder of his chest, "As you probably know, we're on a bit of tight schedule. If Aang has really disappeared, then shouldn't we just accept it for what it is- he doesn't want to fight, because he's a coward."

"Well, he left his glider and Appa, so he couldn't have got that far. Even if he's a waterbender, he can't be that good of swimmer." he explained what he knew, "So he couldn't have just run away. Aang's not that stupid." Sokka came to his own conclusion.

"Whatever, that doesn't change the fact Sozin's Comet arrives in two days." Zuko recentred the conversation to the most important thing, that being taking down his father.

"You're right, Zuko, that's why we need to find him." he Water Tribe boy argued, making him sigh, turning to face his girlfriend.

"What do you think we should do?" he asked, hoping to seek her guidance and opinion on the matter, as she was part of their Fire-Lord-hunting trio.

"Aang's out there. We just need to find him... but there is a schedule. If we can't find him today, then we're going to face the Fire Lord alone, that's just the fact of the matter."

"Not alone." Sokka piped up, "We're all going to face him together. We're Team Avatar, not 'the Rebel Royals'." he rebuked the presupposition that the three of them would have to face Ozai alone.

"That's a catchy name." Azula scratched her chin, narrowing her eyes at him, "Stupid, but catchy, nonetheless." before her attention was reoriented to the more important matter at hand, "Let's find Aang, and then we'll go take down our father, once and for all."

Sokka then led the three of them out of the beach house to Katara and Toph, who were standing outside waiting for them; his sister looked at him with relief, realising that the three of them were still there.

"You persuaded them to stay... thank the spirits." she sighed, before looking up at them, "So... how do you propose we find him?"

"Who?" Zuko raised a brow, the eyes of the group darting to Azula.

"Why are you looking at me? Is there something on my face?" she tapped her cheeks, before her eyes widened, "Oh, yeah. I have found you all numerous times. It wasn't that hard."

"Really?" Sokka raised a brow at her, to which she made a smug grin, pointing to Appa.

"For one, that massive ball of hair is both easy to spot and sheds hair regularly, and for another, you are all serious trouble magnets; I follow the trouble, I find you." she simply explained her method behind finding them.

"And how exactly are we going to find him when he's just disappeared out of thin air?" Toph asked her, the Princess scratching her chin.

"I have no idea, but the thing is, why would he leave without his glider? He can't exactly get anywhere fast without it." she gestured to the object that he would need to travel with.

"So what, we scour the water with Appa?" Sokka questioned, Azula gesturing around them.

"We're on a big island, so he could still be here. You'd never know until you looked a little deeper." she suggested, the group looking amongst themselves, Katara stepping forward.

"So that settles it. He's got to be somewhere on Ember Island. Let's split up and look for him."

"I'm going with Zuko!" Toph declared, walking over and grasping him by the arm, making him blush; the erest of the group looking at her with concern, before she clarified her intentions, "What? Everyone else went ona life-changing field trip with Zuko. Now it's my turn."

"I'm pretty sure we clarified that was going to involve your parents, and be completed after we beat the Fire Lord." he admitted, making her pout.

"Urgh... whatever, but still, I'm going with you anyway." she stood her ground, making the Prince roll his eyes as he began to walk off.

"I'm not that much fun to be around." he admitted, knowing for a fact he wasn't the most sociable person, especially in comparison to the stout earthebending girl.

"Nah, I'm staying for Azula... she's cool, you know." she grinned, making the Princess slap Toph on the shoulder.

"See, the respect I deserve." the Princess wistfully remarked, making the Prince roll his eyes, before turning to face Suki.

"Come on, let's go, let those two 'master benders' have their fun together." he suggested, the Kyoshi Warrior following after him, her eyes momentarily darting back to look at the others before she turned to face him.

"I feel like this isn't going to eventuate to much." she admitted, Zuko sighing before he looked to her with determination.

"If he really has disappeared, then I think they'll follow us, so we can take down the Fire Lord together." he concluded, knowing that without Aang, Azula was their best shot to defeat his father.

"And what if we really need Aang to defeat him?" she dared to question him, the Prince placing a palm over his face, cringing at the idea.

"Well then, perhaps the spirits really do want us all to suffer. Destiny's just kicking us at this point."

She raised a brow at him with surprise, before making a wistful smirk, "You really sound like a more angsty version of your uncle sometimes."

"That is both a compliment and an insult at the same time." he admitted with surprised face, before it turned to one of appreciation, "But if I can be half as wise as him, then maybe I'll be a good Fire Lord."

"You'll be a massive improvement to what we have right now." she observed the seemingly obvious, "I'm sure you'll do a great job."

"We've just got to get there first." he conceded, before his eyes darted upward, as the pair began to approach the beach-side settlement, where there were a number of shops and smaller vacation homes, "Let's just hope here's actually here. I don't know what'll actually happen otherwise"

"I think she can do it, Zuko." she reaffirmed her certainty, "As long as we don't get in her way, that is." she conceded, making the Prince chuckle, realising that an overly determined and focused Azula was once his greatest fear, but now his greatest asset.

"She may have to. Let's just hope the Avatar hasn't pulled the same trick he did a hundred years ago."


	59. The Only Option

_She was there, again. Azula knew immediately upon seeing that long Fire Nation flag, flames lightning the room, as well as the figure of her father, Fire Lord Ozai, that she was in the Agni Kai chamber; her brother was standing there shocked, and she thought for a moment that she might ahve been given a second chance, to right the wrong that had occurred that day. She knew however, that second chances weren't a thing, not truly, so what she was experiencing was a dream, a hallucination, and if things went the way she guessed they would, a nightmare; she tried to close her eyes and make the image before her disappear, but it didn't relent, her blinking not stopping the images, sounds and smells from replaying before her._

_"Please, father. I only had the Fire Nation's best interest at heart. I'm sorry I spoke out of turn!" Zuko pleaded, once more, just as he had the first time; her memories were kind to remind her of the tears falling down his face- her brothers weakness and loyalty, all tied up into one moment of indecision, of cowardice._

_"You will fight for your honour." her father demanded of him, Azula standing up, momentarily glancing back to the memory of her uncle, who was grimacing just as he had that day._

_"Not today. Not again." she declared, her father's eyes momentarily glancing up toward her, widening as he witnessed her jumping across over onto the fighting area, landing in between her brother and the Fire Lord, who looked her down with shock._

_"Princess Azula, what is the meaning of this?!" he shouted at her, his voice not making her shudder, not making her relent in her decision; it wasn't real, after all, and she was free to choose whatever she pleased._

_"Z-Zula..." she heard her brother mumble behind her, making her twitch, thinking how much he had suffered that day, while she had for intents and purposes won herself the title of Crown Princess by virtue of inaction._

_The last time she had really heard his voice was so long ago that she was unsure if the memory was doing justice to him. In that single thought she was reminded of what their father had done that day; he had broken them apart, and forced his son a fruitless chase around the world._

_"He is unwilling to face you, because he is a loyal son. He doesn't deserve to have his face burnt off." she declared the truth bare to him, Ozai's eyes widening, before he snarled with fury._

_"You will get out of my way, child! Or you will face my fury!" he declared, the Princess taking a firebending stance._

_"Not today. You don't get to do that again." she declared, the distorted memory of her father becoming more infuriated with every word she spoke._

_"You are just as much a weakling to defend him! You will burn!" he declared, before sending a fireball her way; she split it in half with her hand, before sending a kick of flames at him._

_Although the attack hit her father, he simply shrugged it off, "Weak. You're both so weak." he mocked her, the Princess clenching her fists; she had wanted her father's love, but she had never wanted her brother to suffer how he did- he didn't deserve that fate, not because he wasn't their father's ideal son._

_Throwing a volley of fireballs at him, she flared her teeth, screaming out in frustration; she realised that no matter how much she wanted her father's love, there was an underlying truth that made her feel sick. She hated and feared him, all the same, probably just like her uncle and mother; she considered that perhaps even Zuko did, despite his words of loyalty. He wanted a father who loved them like their mother did to him, despite how unfair that had been, not Ozai, the man who had burned his face._

_The visage of her father before did not relent to throw another fire blast at her, intent on dealing down the punishment he had already done; her actions were fruitless, but even then, she pressed on, bending a stream of flames at her father, hoping to ward him off, if only for long enough to let Zuko see his mistake, to understand what he ought to have done. She knew it wasn't her real, living brother, but the grimace on his face was just the same that he had once made. The Fire Lord deflected her attack, before sending another fire blast her way; she dispersed it, although she felt the heat pressing on her skin; a sensation like the real feeling of flames burning her skin, although she didn't feel any real pain. The pain Azula was feeling was rather more emotional, the infernal desire to protect her brother, despite how much she wanted her father to love her all the same, to see her as a good heir, a Princess worthy of ruling her nation. A kick of flames was sent her way, throwing the Princess to the ground, the feeling of her back scraping up along the stone ground making her cringe; it wasn't real pain again, knowing that such feelings were lies, her mind playing tricks on her._

_The Fire Lord towered over her, his hand full of flames as he looked down upon her with disdainful eyes, "Such a waste. You have signed your fate, daughter." he chided her, making her grimace with dread; she threw a fireball up at his face, to postpone the inevitable, that being the fate her brother had suffered, dealt down upon her, the child who refused to back down, who refused to follow her father's will, and thus would be destroyed._

_He dispersed her flames, literally whacking them away before he moved his left hand down to grasp her, to make sure she wouldn't move as he went to burn her face; she felt the adrenaline rushing through her body, throwing her fist up, covered it flames to deflect his hand. It didn't work, of course, as he simply grappled her hand, squeezing it painfully, making her finger joints buckle before he threw her limb away. She wanted to scream out in fear, not knowing what else to do as his hand lowered down, covered in flames._

_"No!" she heard a scream come from behind her; Zuko rushing forward to throw her father's arm out of the way didn't make her feel any better, it only made the dread grow stronger; she tried to pull herself up, knowing that she had to stop what was going to follow next._

_"Zuko don't!" she screamed out pleadingly, not stopping her father from sending a fireball into her brother's bared chest; he stumbled back momentarily before sending a kick of flames right into the Fire Lord's face._

_Ozai flinched back before cackling, "You are both so feeble! Your mothers blood runs strong through you both, and for it, you will die!" he declared, before spinning his arms around, charging a lightning blast._

_Azula pulled herself up, wanting to try and get her brother out of the way, who was standing defiantly in front of her, as if his body would hold against what their father was about to deal down. The flash and sound of the lightning zapping her brother made Azula scream out in terror, as his body was flung back across the Agni Kai chamber, slumping down behind her, a massive burn marking his chest._

_"No!" she screamed, "Why?!" hammering her fists down onto the ground, before she turned to her father, feeling the disturbing middle ground between wanting to throw up and wanting to kill him; she sent a stream of flames up at him, which he blocked, the flames breaking up and spitting back at her, making her pull back, knowing that her efforts were in vain._

_"You have betrayed me. You have betrayed your nation. For that, you will suffer. Suffering will be your teacher!" he stressed to her, before he lit his hand with flames; Azula squirmed back with fear, sending a fire blast at her father, not stopping him from pushing her right arm out of the way, like her efforts were nothing._

_She screamed at the top of her lungs as his hand made contact with her face, the flames melting the skin; the smell, the look on her father's face, it made her feel like she was experiencing the worst thing possible. The moment her head pulled up from the pillow, she began to scream, not knowing when she would stop, and not knowing if she ever could; the bile rising in her throat indicated that she would have to, the desire to expel the contents of her stomach far greater than her feeling of utter dread._

* * *

"Well, that settles it, Aang's gone, for sure."

Zuko sighed upon hearing those words from Sokka, knowing that their efforts had been in vain, with the Avatar having vanished from Ember Island. He knew that there was only one thing they could do, seeing that they couldn't find his father; they had to try and defeat him by themselves, something he had been more than willing to do, but upon realising that it was his only option, it made him feeling a sense of dread. Not just for himself, but for Suki, Azula, Katara, Sokka and Toph, all of whom wanted the same thing he did, to defeat the Fire Lord and end the war; unlike Aang, they were more than willing to achieve that through lethal force, his sister knowing better than anyone what their father would do to them if they gave one inch of reprieve.

"There's only one thing left to do." he acknowledged the situation before them, gesturing to Appa, "We need to go defeat my father, right now."

"Right now?" Toph raised a brow with surprise, "You mean, we should get on Appa and just go beat him to a pulp."

"I mean that's our best choice of action, is it not?" he asked them, Suki clearing her throat.

"Actually, I have a better idea in mind." she declared, the group's eyes all turning to her with surprise.

"A better idea?" Azula looked at her with a disbelieving face, "Enlighten us."

"The airship. The others have it, and they're not that far away, just across the sea in the Earth Kingdom." she explained, before hammering a hand down into her palm, "If we can use our own airship to intercept the airship fleet, we can make sure the Fire Lord doesn't even get a chance to destroy the Earth Kingdom."

"I see the merit in your plan, but isn't the whole idea to kill my father before he can use his airships?" Azula questioned her, the Kyoshi Warrior raising a hand.

"What's the chance that the commanding officers on those airships will still go to burn down the Earth Kingdom?" she questioned in return, the Princess sighing before begrudgingly nodding.

"Okay... I see your point."

Sokka cleared his throat, "So is that it, we just need to get our airship and use it to destroy the others?"

"Yep." the Kyoshi Warrior smiled, before looking at the rest of them, "Are we all ready to go? I think we need to leave quickly."

"Yes, yes we do." Katara agreed, standing up and gesturing to her brother, "Come on, Sokka, Toph, let's get our things on Appa.

Zuko, his girlfriend and his sister were then momentarily left alone, standing by the sky-bison; the first to speak was his sister, who rather a rather puzzled face, "Huh... has anyone noticed the fact Momo isn't here either?"

"He's probably with Aang." he stated the obvious, before he climbed up onto the sky-bison's saddle, offering Suki a hand up, which she accepted with a grateful smile; his sister jumped up with the assistance of her firebending, before she landed on the saddle, sitting herself down at once.

"Huh... I'm looking forward to see what power the comet gives us." she admitted, the Prince grimacing, realising the kind of battle they'd face if they didn't get to their father before the comet arrived.

"Hopefully we won't have to use that power." he told her with an uneasy tone, that which caught her attention immediately.

"We'll defeat him, Zuko." she assured him, with a tone of certainty; how she could be so confident was beyond him, although he knew that she had been preparing to face him mentally ever since she awoke on the airship, as she had told him herself in the moment.

"I just feel like... like this could all go the wrong way."

"What happened to the confident Zuko who shot Aang with lightning?" she questioned him, the Prince sighing, knowing that that was a different time, when he had been driven to achieve one thing, and that was to redeem her.

A wholly different kind of motivation was behind him, and for once in his life, Zuko's fear outweighed his feelings of hate tenfold; their father could kill them all, and he couldn't bare to lose his sister, or his girlfriend, not even considering the weight on his conscience that would come from anyone else perishing.

"This is about more than that now. This is the fate of the world." he told her with a serious a tone he could muster, unsure how to feel about what they would be facing, especially Azula, who seemed so intent on facing their father that it made him sick to think what might happen.

"And we're going to do it together." Suki piped up, placing a hand on his shoulder, "We'll win together." she assured him, kissing him on the cheek; his heart fluttered for a moment, making him smile and they hugged each other, much to the fawning of Katara, who had just arrived on the saddle.

"Aw... look how cute they are." she tilted her head, making a warm smile at them, all the while Zuko's own sister turned her head with disinterest.

"Each to their own." she snidely remarked, being backed up by Sokka who was climbing on after his sister.

"Oogies, man. Could you two cut it out?" he asked, the Prince giving him a glare of annoyance, before he made a smug grin, eyeing both him and his sister suggestively; they both got the hint quickly enough, looking away from each other with uneasy faces, Azula's turning to an annoyed side-eye as the couple continued to hug.

"Alright!" Toph shouted, using her earthbending to propel herself up into the air and onto the saddle, "Let's get moving. Somewhere somewhere Earth Kingdom here we come!" she raised a fist, before her tone quietened, turning to Sokka with a slightly confused glance, "Uh, you do know where we're going, right?"

"Of course. I chose the spot with my dad so we could meet up if it was necessary, and it- uh- became necessary." he admitted, with a growing tone of unease.

All of them knew what they had to do, but it didn't make them feel any less afraid; the Fire Lord was still the Fire Lord, even if you had a bunch of friends to fight alongside. The fact Aang had disappeared made everything all the more worse, Zuko knowing that it was all the more comforting to have the most powerful person alive watching your back than his friends who were still great fighters, but nothing in comparison.

"Yip, yip!" Sokka called on the sky-bison, who groaned before he rose up into the air, rising above the vacation home before racing off across the water, moving away from the island at an incredible speed; he hadn't got used to how fast Appa was, and he knew that he would be a great advantage in getting ahead of his father, so they could take down the airship fleet before it even had a chance to attack the Earth Kingdom.

He pulled himself back from Suki slightly, lying himself back as he looked over the water; she placed a hand on his chest, sighing as she obviously mulled over what they would have to do. Her eyes moved up to lock with his own, looking at him as if it were the last time they'd see each other.

"I hope we get to see that dirty old dojo again." she reminisced, making him chuckle.

"Oh, did you want me to beat you up with sticks again?" he joked, the Kyoshi Warrior tilting her head.

"Well, I mean it'd be nice to spar for fun again." she admitted, Azula snickering beside them.

"I'd like the same thing." she admitted, before narrowing her eyes, "For different reasons of course."

"Zuko just likes to bond with people by beating them up. Isn't that right, Sokka?" Suki questioned the Water tribe boy, who looked back at her with a flustered face.

"Uh... that didn't happen." he denied her suggestion, which would imply that Zuko had beaten him before in the past; she eyed him with a tilt of the chin, her grin undeniably smug.

"Don't even act like that didn't." she chided him, "You learnt from the best."

"And you got it wrong. Azula's the one who bonds over beating people up." the Prince added.

"Well I do... I just thought it was more of a mutual bonding experience." she suggested, making him sigh, begrudgingly nodding.

"You kicking me into the turtle-duck pond does not count as bonding." he warned her, as if to preempt any idea to joke about it.

"Correct, Zuzu. That was just a friendly, sister-to-brother lesson." she quipped back in response, making him grumble, knowing that she was right.

Suki raised a finger to her chin before her eyes darted to her boyfriend, "Isn't she like two years younger than you?"

"Yes. And she acts like she's older." he narrowed his eyes at his sister, whose haughty grin made him want to punch her in the face.

"Wiser." Azula clarified, making him clench his fists.

"Do you have to turn every conversation into an argument?" he leaned over toward her, gesturing with his hands as to stress his annoyance; it seemed that if anyone could ever be smug about being honest for a change, it was his sister of all people.

"Not really... I just enjoy doing so."

* * *

Amari liked to think that she was prepared for anything; when she thought of anything, it mostly came to be associated with the Fire Nation raining hell down upon them, something that Zuko had told her was a real possibility with what his father had planned. She was rather surprised to see what she wasn't exactly prepared for what she saw before her; Appa had landed right by their campsite, and from a quick look on the saddle, she realised that Aang wasn't amongst the group. The Avatar, who was meant to defeat the Fire Nation in about a day's time, wasn't with his friends; she began to think what could force the Avatar's friends to return to them, and as much as she wanted to believe it was Suki wanting to be with her fellow warriors, she immediately knew that wouldn't be the case.

"This can't be good." Nakata mumbled beside her, to which she nodded with agreement.

"Sokka! Katara! What are you doing here?" Hakoda stood up, an expectedly shocked look on his face.

"We wouldn't be here if we didn't need to be." Sokka admitted, approaching the group with an uneasy face, "Aang disappeared, so we've got to face the Fire Lord ourselves." he simply explained himself, the Kyoshi Warriors looking amongst themselves with shocked expressions; the sense of dread she was feeling was one that she didn't miss, and the last time she had felt it, it was when they were indirectly responsible for the destruction of an Earth Kingdom village, which she was almost completely certain Azula was behind, the girl who was standing before her, on the side of the Avatar.

"We need the airship." Azula gestured to the large aircraft that sat off in the distance, "And we need some pilots." she turned to face the warriors, Nakata immediately standing up.

"We'll do it. We have to." she declared, before the other warriors followed in suite, standing up.

"We're all going the fucking die, aren't we?" Amari mumbled under her breath, earning herself a glare from the Princess, which turned into a determined expression.

"We're not. We're going to win, we just need to do this together." she assured them; a few moments later, Suki approached them, looking rather relieved to see them.

"Thanks for volunteering, girls." she smiled at them warmly, Amari punching her in the shoulder with a sarcastic grin.

"We're always getting ourselves in trouble for these damn royals anyway. That isn't going to change today."

"Thank you, seriously." Zuko addressed them, his expression surprisingly warm; he was usually gruff and grumpy, but at that moment, he seemed to be genuinely relieved that the Kyoshi Warriors would be joining him.

"We are the Kyoshi Warriors. You included, Sokka!" Suki pointed at the boy, much to his embarrassment.

"You're a Kyoshi Warrior?" Hakoda raised a brow at him, making Katara smirk confidently.

"Oh, this is a story you're going to like." she suggested.

"Don't mean to break up the reunion, but we really ought to get going." Toph stood in the middle of the group.

"All of us?" Haru raised a brow, standing up from the campfire.

"No." Zuko shook his head, "We're not going to put any more lives in danger than what is necessary. You, Teo and the Duke don't need to come."

"We'll hold down the fort for you." Teo assured him, before glancing around their rather meagre hideout, "Or... uh, the campsite."

"We'll come back here to celebrate our victory." Sokka declared, "I assure you!" he grinned, his father tapping his shoulder.

"Sokka, I have to come with you and Katara. You two are my only children, I can't just let you go into this fight alone."

"You're pretty good with machines, aren't you?" he asked him with a thoughtful scratch of the chin, Azula stepping between them.

"All the reason for him to come along, you can figure out how we can take down an entire fleet of airships." she suggested to him before walking on toward the airship.

"Uh... I guess I could." the Water Tribe chief made an uneasy smile.

Amari turned to face her fellow warriors, "So, are we going to get our stuff together?"

"You only need your weapons." Suki directed them, "There's a chance we'll actually have to fight the Fire Lord."

"Oh... that'll be fun." Esumi sarcastically remarked, before Sawa stepped forward, pulling out her fans.

"We're the Kyoshi Warriors. We can beat anyone."

"Probably not an insanely strong firebender powered up by Sozin's Comet." Suki warned them, "But all of his lackeys? Yeah, we can beat them pretty good." she cracked her knuckles.

"Oh yeah! The Kyoshi Warriors are back together, again!" Nakata raised her fist into the air, "Let's go beat the Fire Lord!"

Her shout was enough of a prodding for all of the Kyoshi Warriors to begin walking on over to the airship, where the rest of the group was already going, including Appa, who was climbing into the storage bay.

"Come on, let's go." Toph prodded them, standing by the doorway as they all filed into the airship's hull.

"This will be the hardest fight we've ever faced." Suki told the group as they all stood by the entrance of the airship, "I'm just glad to be facing it with my best friends."

"No need to get all mushy now." Azula warned them offhandedly as she began to walk on toward the brdige of the airship, "We need to get moving."

"On it." Nakata nodded, before she turned to the earthbending girl who was standing by the entrance, "Hey, Toph, could you do us a favour and fill the engines with coal... seeing that you're an earthbender." she asked of the girl, who sighed, probably not wanting to be relegated to such a mundane job.

"Getting the earthbender to throw the rocks into the fire. Classic." she rolled her eyes, something that confused Amari, seeing that she was blind; she walked on down toward the the engine room while the Kyoshi Warriors went the other way, heading toward the bridge.

Following their leader up along the hallway, they quickly made their way up to the front of the airship, where Zuko, Sokka, Katara and Azula were all standing, intently waiting for them to start up the airship; she didn't know exactly why none of them could do it, but they were the ones who had been relegated to controlling it when they first stole it, and thus were stuck doing that job as long as they were on-board.

"Okay... now, let's fly." Sokka gestured to the controls, making Suki raise a brow at him.

"Hey, Mr. Engineering Genius, why don't you have a try?" she mocked him, the Water Tribe boy raising his hands up defensively.

"I don't know how it works." he deflected her suggestion, making the Kyoshi Warriors snicker.

"Oh, and I thought that was his one redeeming trait, his mind." Nakata mocked him, making Amari pat her on the shoulder, appreciating her sense of humour.

"And the boomerang... however that thing works."

"It's a highly prized weapon of the Water Tribes." he declared, "Isn't that right, Katara?" he asked his sister, who shrugged nonchalantly.

"Eh, it's not that cool." she dismissed his claim.

"How could you take their side?!" he looked at her with a dramatic face of shock.

"Stop making fun of the idiot and fly the damn thing." Azula growled at them, the Kyoshi Warriors all returning to a more serious composure as they took their stations.

Amari quickly approached the lifting mechanism, pulling the lever down, the airship slowly beginning to rise up above the ground; she sighed with relief as it turned out that the airship could still fly. She was unsure if it was going to, as they hadn't refuelled it at all since stealing it at the Fire Nation Capital, although she guessed that Toph's work in the engine room had helped them out in that regard.

"Okay, now, we need to head in a north-westerly direction." Sokka directed, Sawa turning the wheel as they rose above the height of the surrounding woodland; their hideout was hidden by the large deciduous forest that surrounded it, ensuring that it would be hard for any Fire Nation military forces to find them.

"I can't believe we're actually going to go to do it." Katara broke the silence on the bridge.

"We're ready." Zuko assured them, "We're as ready as we could possibly be."

"Ready to bomb the Fire Lord's airship fleet out of existence?" Amari questioned them, making Azula smirk confidently, looking forward to that specific outcome.

"Precisely."

* * *

Lying down in bed, Azula refused to go to sleep, knowing what awaited her if she did so; sleeping would distract her from the reality that she faced, that they were about to fight her father, who was intent on burning the Earth Kingdom down. He had the means, and they hoped to destroy it before he had the chance to use it; the comet hadn't arrived yet, but they had already wasted a whole day and a half travelling to retrieve and then fly their airship in the direction of the staging location that she had only learnt of from a quick glance at the military reports she found when she, Zuko and Katara were hunting down Yon Rha.

The details she had received were vague, not detailing actually how many airships her father had at his disposal, although she knew that she and Zuko had severely damaged if not outright destroyed two of them at the Western Air Temple. She knew one anything above all else, and that was that her father, and his fleet would not stop until they were sorely beaten, and that beating would be a challenge for such a small group to hand down; she was hoping that Aang returned, if only to turn the battle in their favour, as even if he wasn't willing to kill her father, he would be more than capable of holding him off and distracting him from his real goal, that being the mass destruction of the Earth Kingdom and its populace.

"You having trouble sleeping?" she heard an unexpected voice nearby; raising her head from the bed, she saw Sokka, who was standing with his weapons all ready, as if he were about to go into a fight.

"Uh... yes." she simply acknowledged the fact, "It's a bit hard to find the motivation to sleep when you know what you're about to face."

"Tell me about it." he sighed, his frustrated voice indicating that he felt the same way; the Princess could see her brother soundly asleep across from her, lying beside his girlfriend, "You want to go sit up front?"

"Why do you want to hang around me?" she questioned him in response, the Water Tribesman shrugging his shoulders.

"I don't want to sit all alone." he simply told her, the Princess sighing; as much as she'd prefer to lie by her lonesome, she considered that talking with someone else might help her better focus her thoughts.

"Fine." she pulled herself up from her bed, before she walked up to the door, Sokka already beginning to walk up along toward the bridge; as she made her way out, she could already see that the sky's colour had changed from the ordinary black she'd expect of a night-sky to a dark and foreboding red, from the colour of the comet, which despite not being the sight, was quickly approaching their world.

She followed him down along the hallway, all the way up to the front of the bridge, where she could see ahead of them; she couldn't see the island, not yet, but she guessed they would be arriving at it quite soon; Sokka sighed as he leaned up against the front window, looking out at the water below them.

"I guess this is it." he mumbled, "All of our running around the world, fighting the Fire Nation, winning and losing, it all led to here." his tone grew more uneasy, before his eyes turned back to face her, "I'm just surprised that you ended up joining us. You did seem pretty intent on beating us back in Ba Sing Se."

"I was." she clarified, "But not for the reasons you'd think. I never bore any personal grudge against Aang... or any of you for that. I wanted to get my brother back to the Fire Nation."

"Huh, and look how that turned out." he narrowed his eyes at her, the Princess glaring at him.

"Are you trying to piss me off?" she questioned, the Water Tribe teen shaking his head.

"Nope. I'm just naturally curious. The first time we met, you wanted to help us."

"I wanted to stop Zhao." she clarified, "There's a difference."

"Why didn't you get rid of him earlier, anyway? Wouldn't have that been easier?"

"As unusual as it might sound now, I really didn't want to aggrieve my father. I was Crown Princess, remember."

"Ah, yes. That was part of your 'big speech', wasn't it?" he recalled her declaration against Zhao, before she beat the crap out of him; the uneasy look on his face told her that as far away as they were from that day, what had happened to Yue still hurt.

"For what it's worth..." she approached the window, "I'm sorry."

"You're sorry?" he turned to face her with a surprised glance, "Sorry for what?"

"For letting Zhao kill the Moon Spirit. If anything, I should have just let that Water Tribe assassin kill him."

"Water Tribe as-" he mumbled before his eyes widened with realisation, "Oh, you don't mean Hahn?" he asked her, the Princess chuckling; she had spent a few minutes interrogating that young snide Water Tribe warrior who was rather cocky in his attempt to kill Zhao, no matter how much of failure it was.

"Oh, that was his name. I can't even remember what we did with him. Might still be sitting in a Fire Nation prison somewhere." she mused, before her eyes turned to face him once more, "How are you at peace with what I made you do?"

"At peace?" he questioned her, looking at her with a sceptical face, "The man deserved it."

"Just like my father does." she narrowed her eyes ahead of her, the tone of her voice perhaps indicating more than she'd like to; the Fire Lord, no matter how much she wanted to see him burn, was her father, and that still meant something to her, no matter how meagre those feelings were in comparison to her hatred.

"He probably does. No matter how much Aang argues otherwise, the Fire Lord has to go."

"Let's just hope this all goes off without a hitch. I couldn't stand failure, not now." she grumbled, the Water Tribe boy chuckling.

"I'm sure with the pure will and determination you and your brother can muster, we'll beat the Fire Lord all the way back to that palace of his." he declared with a confident grin.

"You're right." she agreed, "We'll destroy him." she made a devious grin, expressing her lethal intent.

She could hear a yawn behind her, Azula turning her eyes to see Toph standing before them, wiping the sleep from her eyes, "What are you two talking about?"

"Nothing." Sokka shrugged, "Defeating the Fire Lord. What else would we talk about?"

"I don't know... your feelings or something like that?"

"Feelings?" the Princess scoffed, "If you mean the strong sense of hatred I hold toward my father, I'd love to go on a rant about that."

"Make yourself at home." the earthbender grinned at her, "I'd like to hear all the juicy details."

"He's worse than you'd think." she declared, the other two scoffing at her words.

"Yeah, really?" the Water Tribesman asked her with a sceptical tone, inciting her to continue.

"He didn't just burn my brother's face and treat him like he was worthless, but he tried to make us hate each other, something that I refused to do. Zuko, as much of an idiot as he can be at times, is still my brother, and I refused to let go of him. My father separated us with that banishment, and then tried to turn me against him by sending me on a mission to capture him."

"Oh, is that why you were in Ba Sing Se? To find Zuko?" Toph questioned her with a surprised voice.

"No." she clarified, "I was there to conquer Ba Sing Se, just to spite my Uncle Iroh."

"Oh... your really do like to do that." she mumbled, before her eyes narrowed at the Princess, "But, despite that, you seem to be really loyal to Zuko. I don't have any siblings, but I'm pretty surprised how much to seem to care about him."

"We don't have anyone else. Our mother left us, and our father... well you already know who he is." she narrowed her eyes at the little earthbender, who approached Sokka.

"You fight a lot with Katara, don't you?"

"Yep." he confirmed with a rather disinterested voice, before he raised his brow in thought, "Actually, fighting with Katara was how we found Aang." he told her, making Toph snicker.

"Ah, that was a funny story." she snickered, the Princess raising a brow with interest.

"I'd like to hear this story." she asked of the Water Tribe boy, who sighed, leaning back against the windowsill.

"Well, our Gran-Gran wanted us to go out fishing, so we could get some more food for our village. Since all the men were out fighting the Fire Nation, we hadn't had as many people going out to get food, so Katara and I had to go do it ourselves." he began, before furrowing a brow in thought, "I was actually trying to fish, while Katara was trying to do it with her waterbending."

"Oh... and I'm guessing that didn't work out for you two." Azula suggested with a smirk, considering how absurd a fishing trip would have to be to end with them finding the Avatar.

"We didn't catch any fish, they we got pulled into a current. She tried to tell me which way to paddle, but there was... uh- miscommunication." he explained, Toph clearing her throat.

"You crashed the boat, Sokka." she told him, making the Water Tribe boy frowning at her; Azula snickered, but his attention wasn't drawn her to her, but rather to reprimand his friend.

"You weren't there." he crossed his arms, the young earthbender punching him in the shoulder.

"Sugar Queen was very vocal in telling me that part of the story."

"So, you crashed the boat... then what?" the Princess questioned, making the Water Tribe boy sigh, looking down with embarrassment.

"Then we had an argument about who crashed the boat, and I made some rather... uh- insensitive comments, in hindsight." he explained before chuckling, "Then she had a rant about me being sexist and not doing enough work, but she didn't realise that she was waterbending an iceberg behind us; I tried to tell her to stop, but she kept on screaming."

"Of course, because everyone loves to scream at Sokka." Toph piped up, the Water Tribe boy refusing to respond to her commentary.

"Uh... but yeah, then she split the iceberg in two, made a big splash, and then we were thrown back on an ice floe." he furthered the story, before raising his hands up, "Then out of nowhere, an iceberg rose out of the water, and it was glowing, and inside, there was Aang!" he exclaimed, before his eyes narrowed, "Although all we saw was a silhouette with glowing eyes and tattoos... it was him!"

"Wait... that's how you found him?" Azula's jaw dropped, realising that a fight amongst siblings had been the cause of the Avatar's return.

"Uh, yeah. Katara, being in a more curious mood than me, whacked it with my club, and then it burst open, and out came Aang and Appa."

"So they were in an iceberg for spirits know how long... how did he even survive that long?"

Sokka looked at her, realising she raised a pretty important question, but he simply shrugged his shoulders, "Avatar powers, I guess."

"It's a great excuse not to explain the crazy things he does, like disappearing out of the blue, isn't it?" she mused, Toph nodding with agreement.

"That's a good point, your majesty. I don't even know how the whole Avatar State business works."

"He hasn't, actually... something something chakras is what I got after he came back from Guru Pathik." Sokka admitted, Azula raising a brow at the mention of a name she hadn't heard of before.

"Who's Guru-" she began to ask before Sokka's voice grew to a shout.

"There it is!" he pointed forward, the Princess's eyes darting to the window, out of which she could see the island, where the airships were about to be launched from, "We still have time!" he exclaimed, Azula's eyes darting about, looking around the horizon before she saw the one thing she dreaded; Sozin's Comet was peering above it, only ever so slightly, but it was there, and she was certain that her father would already have access to it's power, as would she and Zuko.

"Wait..." she mumbled, before sparking a flame on her finger; she was expecting a small blue torch, but it grew immediately, the burst of flames surprising Toph and Sokka, who both stepped back.

"Your fire... that means... oh no." the Water Tribesman gasped, realising the comet was already having an influence over her firebending, thus giving the Fire Lord even more power to fight them with.

"You two keep an eye on the island, I'm going to wake Zuko." she told them, the pair nodding before she turned her heels, racing down the hallway.

She quickly made her way back to the bedroom which she had been resting in, where she saw Suki rising from the bed, wiping sleep from her eyes, surprised by Azula's sudden appearance, "Azula, what's wrong?"

"The comet is already here, and... we're on the final approach." she explained the situation, the Kyoshi Warrior's eyes widening.

"Oh spirits..." she mumbled, before she shook her boyfriend awake, "Zuko! Get up! We're nearly there."

He shot up from the bed, his head hitting the bunk above them, making him groan with pain, "Ow... urgh, yep, I'm getting up." he mumbled, rubbing his head as he looked at his sister, "W-wait... the comet." he mumbled, Azula's eyes narrowing.

"You can feel it too?" she asked of him, the Prince looking at his hands which sparked with small flames with seemingly no effort whatsoever.

"My inner-fire is less like a torch and more like an inferno." he confirmed her suspicions, knowing for certain that she wasn't just misinterpreting her strong sense of motivation for the power of the comet.

Suki helped him out of the bed, before she turned to face her, "I should wake up all the warriors, shouldn't I?"

"That'd be a good idea. We might need to start dropping those bombs very quickly." she agreed, the Kyoshi Warrior grasping her boyfriend's hand momentarily before racing out the doorway, leaving the two royals in the room alone.

"So this is it." Zuko simply addressed the fact of the matter, his sister grasping him by the shoulder.

"It is. Now, let's get up front and make sure we do this right." she declared, her brother simply following after her without another word, his silence indicating his agreement; they had to win, and winning was going to require they do two things correctly: destroy the airship fleet, and ultimately, defeat their father through any means necessary.

As they made their way up toward the front of the airship, her brother's eyes turned to their left, looking out the windows that gave him a view of the comet; his expression showed the mixture of awe and dread he felt with the sight of it, although he was brought out of his distraction by a tug on the shoulder. By the time they arrived in the bridge, Sokka was at the wheel, looking ahead toward the island that was quickly approaching them; she could already make out a number of the airships, as well as the other facilities on the island, such a large and imposing military base, as well as her father's own Royal Barge.

"When do we start dropping bombs?" he asked them, the Princess looking at him with confusion.

"When we're over the island, obviously." she stressed, before she walked over to the altitude lever, pulling it down to make the airship rise higher into the air, "We'll need to be higher up, so we can av-" she began, before a flash of light caught her eye in the distance; she tensed up with shock, realising that it might be a potential attack, "Get down!" she told the others, tackling Sokka to the ground as their airship was struck by something; the booming sound indicated to her that it was a lightning bolt, from none other than her father.

"Argh!" the Water Tribe boy squealed, "He's already trying to kill us!"

"Don't cry like a baby!" Toph demanded of him, before she bent the wall at the back of the room, "Get out of the way, I need to make a shield."

"Not a bad idea, but I don't think that's going to stop comet-powered lightning." Zuko suggested, the girl shrugging his comment off as she peeled a metal sheet off of the wall, before carrying it over to the front windows, showing off her impressive physical strength.

"You're pretty strong for a twelve-year-old." the Princess commented, making her shrug, a smug grin forming on her face.

"Being the best earthbender in the world isn't just about earthbending." she declared, before suddenly the airship was struck again by another lightning bolt, this time ripping through the bridge itself, throwing Toph and Azula backward, the young earthbender using her metalbending to shield them from the shrapnel.

As they got back to their feet, Zuko stepped forward, sending a stream of fire through the gaping hole, firing back down toward the island, actually striking the edge of it, although it was too far away to discern what damage it made.

"Everyone, get back!" he demanded of them, Azula standing tall, stepping forward as she began to spin her hands around, sparks flying in between her fingers.

"Just a moment." she grinned at her brother, putting one foot forward as she sent out a lightning bolt toward the island, striking around where she had seen the attack come from.

She moved back, eyeing the potential location of their father intently, but found herself unable to spot him; the Fire Lord was about to fire at them again, she knew it, but she had no idea where to fire.

"Come on, you bastard, show yourself." she grit her teeth; instead of a lightning strike, as she expected, instead a number of streams of fire appeared along the edge of the island, coming from what she'd assume to be her father's personal force of elite firebenders.

"Zuko!" she called on her brother, who raced up to stand beside her taking a firebending stance; she did the same, tensing up as the flames approached their airship.

They moved their hands to their sides in synchronisation, redirecting the flames, splitting them as they approached, saving the gondola of the airship from being hit; the flames still ripped through the balloon of the airship, which she noticed by the fact they immediately began to drop through the air. To her luck, she had been increasing their altitude with the lever unintentionally as they were being attacked, meaning that they were still a fair distance above the water, giving the group ample time to escape.

"The airship's falling!" Zuko exclaimed, before he turned to his sister, "We need to get to Appa, right now!"

"Go!" she told him with grit teeth, "I'll try and stop their attacks!" she explained her on the spot idea, the Prince nodding begrudgingly, racing off with Toph and Sokka down the hallway, away from the bridge.

Azula wasn't one for the whimsical ideal of self-sacrifice, but she knew that fighting on while the other's had a momentary chance to escape was her only choice at that point; she had run out of options, and with the flames encroaching, she found herself the only one capable to defending them. Her brother had to survive, that was her only desire, knowing that without him, there would be no great future for the Fire Nation. Pushing her arms away from her torso, she further thrust the streams of fire away as they only grew stronger; she could feel the heat around her increasing as her own bending came under the stress of those who she was deflecting. Even though she was far more powerful than any single elite firebender, in concert, their strength was greater than her own; as the flames grew nearer to her, she realised she was about to be hit, and in extension, the rest of the airship; instead of deflecting the streams, she instead sent her own against her enemies, screaming out as she felt the power of Sozin's Comet increase her own strength tenfold, if not greater. She momentarily powering through their fire streams, until she found the mix of blue and orange flames rushing back at her, the light blinding and heat scorching. Azula, realising that she was about to find herself roasted alive, thrust her arms out to try and momentarily disperse the flames as she jumped backward, the rush of flames shattering the metal frame of the bridge, destroying the controls and throwing her out of the way; by chance, she had stepped too far to the left, and found herself thrown out of the window, or what remained of it.

Finding herself in free-fall, she tried to reorient herself, using her bending to thrust herself higher in the air instead of closer to the sea that lay below her; once she regained her sense of direction, her stomach dropped, watching the front of the airship turn into a bonfire of metal and canvas as it continued to fall toward the water. Struggling to keep herself in the air, she watched on helplessly as what remained of the aircraft careened down toward the water, all while the Fire Lord's men continued send their massive streams of fire at it. Looking at the burning wreckage of the airship as it collided with the water, Azula's heart sunk in her chest; for a single moment, all she could feel was pure horror, thinking about what had just happened. She made an assumption, and that was that everyone she was just with had died, and with that assumption, she felt her inner-fire grow to new high; it was the antithesis of euphoria, her blue flames bursting out of her hands and mouth uncontrollably as she screamed.

"No!" she bellowed at the top of her lungs, closing her eyes as she fell down toward the water, the flames covering her hands stopping her from grasping them over her face to try and mask her pain.

At one point she thought that she would regret killing her father, but now, now she craved it more than anything, knowing that it was the only thing that could satiate her anguish; her firebending, once barely able to keep her flying through the air, burst into a strength that was incomparable to any time before.

The comet had barely arrived, and she was already more powerful than she could ever imagine; her will, her desire, it was driving her toward her now inescapable fate. There was no Avatar to save the world, so it would fall to her, the insane and deranged daughter of the horrible tyrant who sought to burn the world to the ground. As she pushed herself up into the air, she began to cackle, realising the turn of events that had come upon her family. She was going to be the divine retribution upon the Fire Nation, and more than anything she would relish in seeing her father be burned alive and fried by his own precious lightning-bending. Zuko would be avenged, they would all be avenged, and her hand would strike the blow that would end the hundred years of mistakes that had been made by her family.


	60. An Act of Providence

Zuko didn't remember the last time felt like he was going to drown very fondly; it was when he had been thrown off his ship by a catapult strike, which had been, as he later found out, fired by Zhao. Now, instead of the cowardly 'Admiral' trying to murder him, it was none other than his father; he had water all around him, which had burst into the airship when it collided with the water, and he was shrouded with darkness, instead of the fire that he had expected. Worse than just water, he felt a weight on top of him, which only took a moment to realise was a bit of Kyoshi Warrior armour, although it wasn't currently being worn by anyone. He threw it off of his chest, before pushing up toward the water's surface, his eyes, throat, and head beginning to hurt from what he assumed was a lack of air; his maddened thrusts toward the air pocket he only hoped was above him consisted of the most terrifying two seconds of his life so far, barring his Agni Kai with his father. The moment he reached the surface of the water, he gasped out for air, feeling as if he hadn't taken breath for a lifetime; he realised that was the feeling of panic, that he was about to die, setting in, once again.

"Ah! Fuck!" he screamed out, almost in relief, despite his fearful voice.

He looked around the room that he was in, which was quickly filling with water, the airship having tilted to one side; he could tell from the light coming from underneath him that the hallway was below him, and he knew he'd have to go that way to escape. When they had fallen he had be running through the hallway with Toph and Sokka, neither of which he could see, although he made out the distant echoes of shouting through the walls; that assured him that there were others still alive. Taking a few deep breaths, he tried to calm himself before diving back under the water's surface; he immediately spotted the doorway, despite the darkness under the water, swimming through it toward the now shattered windows. As much as he wanted to swim out to the surface to relative safety, he knew he couldn't leave the now sinking gondola without knowing if the others were safe.

Swimming along the hallway, he could vaguely make out the sounds of voices under the water, looking into the rooms within the airship to try and see if anyone was inside; the first room he set his eyes upon, he immediately made out the sight of feet waggling in the water, and from the drab yellow and green fabric, he could it was Toph. He realised that an earthbending girl who was raised as a noblewoman in the Earth Kingdom certainly wouldn't be a very good swimmer, assuming she could do it all.

He swam up into the room, surfacing to see her struggling, and the undeniably terrified shouts she was making, "Sokka?! Is that you?" she called out, her hands flailing, trying to touch at his face; he grasped her hands, pulling her closer to make sure she could keep her head above the water.

"It's Zuko. I'm here to help." he assured her, Toph's unease not lessening as she struggle to remain above the water's surface, which was growing closer and closer to the roof.

"Urgh! Sparky! Get me out of here, please!" she pleaded, before her head turned around, "Wh-where's Sokka? Is he alright?"

"I haven't seen him. I guess he can swim better than you... no offence." he admitted to her, to which she simply shook her head, trying to swim as best she could.

"N-none taken. C-can... do you know the way out?" she asked him, the Prince nodding.

"I'll guide you out, just hold on, and take a deep breath." he directed her, Toph making a deep breath before nodding, the two of them sliding under the water's surface.

He began to kick forward, pulling her along toward the doorway; she could paddle alright, but her panicking made her rather skittish and slow in the water. With each kick of his feet, they got closer to the window, out of which he could see the weak light of the comet coming down from the surface. He held Toph as tightly as he could, knowing that he couldn't let go; his kicks became more erratic as he realised he was running out of air, but once he made sight of water's surface, he began to kick harshly, grasping the girl beside him by the waist to push her higher, above him, ensuring that she could get to the surface before he did. He heard the muffled sound of his friend gasping for air, making him smile with relief as he finally breached the water's surface.

"Toph! Zuko!" he heard Sokka's voice shout out to them, and his eyes darted around to see him swimming nearby what remained of the frame of the airship, "You're okay!" he beamed brightly at them, waving at to ensure he got their attention.

They both paddled toward him, Toph's hand still tightly grasped onto his own; his kicks were easier above water, after regaining control of his precious breath. He imagined his uncle's voice reminding him of the importance of his breathing, but he knew that he wouldn't need a reminder after his gruelling experience. As they approached the Water Tribe boy, he took a moment to realise that he couldn't see anyone else above the water's surface, even Amari, who refuted herself as a great swimmer. His eyes darted about, thinking what he could even to try and find them; he didn't want to risk going back under water into the sinking airship, which was getting deeper under the water and thus more inaccessible by the moment.

When they finally reached Sokka, who was holding onto the remains of the balloon frame, "Where is everybody?" Toph asked the Water Tribesman, "I can't see a thing." she added, the boy's eyes looking around, just as Zuko's had a few moments earlier.

"I don't know. We were together when we hit the water, but everyone else... I have no idea where they are." he admitted, Zuko looking around, unsure what had happened to his sister, let alone anyone else.

He grasped onto the wreckage, leading Toph's hands to grasp it to, to hwich she sighed with relief, "Ah! Something that isn't water or covered in it." she exclaimed, rubbing her face against the metal wreckage, bending a bit of it off, "Maybe I can bend us a boat out of this stuff?"

"That's a pretty good idea!" Sokka exclaimed, "You do that, we'll make sure you don't slip under the water." he assured her, grasping her by the shoulder.

Zuko didn't miss the blush on her face, but didn't comment, holding her up as she tore off the metal fragment, laying it out over the water seeing that it was just a sheet of metal it didn't do much good other than to sink into the water. The Prince grasped it, holding it up while she molded it into a more boat-like shape. He was about to express his relief that it was actually coming together, but he suddenly heard a roar; it was unmistakably coming from Appa, and surely enough, a moment later they saw him rising out of the water from the rear of the airship.

He saw the unmistakable faces of his friends on board, including his girlfriend, which made the heavy feeling on his heart lighten- she was safe, and if she was safe, he was safe; he beamed brightly as the sky-bison flew over toward them, groaning out to the trio as they clinged to the wreckage of the airship. His feelings of utter relief became shattered when his eyes scanned over the airship once more; his sister was at the front of the airship, and she wasn't in the water with them.

"W-wait... where's Azula?" he asked Sokka, who he assumed might have spotted her if she was around.

"Uh..." the Water Tribe boy's eyes widened, raising a finger to point behind them; turning his eyes around toward the island, he made out his sister's unmistakable frame, standing turned away from them.

"Oh, no. She's going to do it." he mumbled, under his breath, before his eyes turned to Appa, and his friends who sat upon his saddle; Hakoda leaned over, offering them a hand, his expression clearly relieved to see that his son was alright.

"Grab a hold of my hand." he told them, the Prince instinctively grasping Toph beside him, lifting her higher in the water and offering her hand up; a moment later, however, they found themselves levitating into the air, Zuko realising that Katara had grabbed them with her waterbending.

As they were dropped into the saddle, the Prince sighed with relief, glancing to Suki, who looked at him with an amused grin, "It's good to see you." she greeted him, the Prince turning his eyes back toward the island in the distance.

"I'm glad we're all safe... but we need to stop the airship fleet."

"What about Azula?" Sokka questioned him, the Prince sighing as he realised that his own desire to help his sister conflicted with the situation they found themselves in.

"We need to make sure we take down down the airships first."

"Isn't the Fire Lord protecting them?" Katara questioned him, "No offence, but I don't think any of us could face him."

"No, you're right. So we'll have to wait, and hopefully Azula keeps him occupied enough that he doesn't get onto his airship." he explained, before clenching his fist, Amari's eyes widening with realisation.

"Then we go get on one of the airships, and use it to take the rest of them down!" she exclaimed, the Prince nodding.

"Wow, you come up with plans quicker than me." Sokka mumbled with surprise, making Zuko shrug his shoulders.

"I just want us to win. We can still beat them, we just need to make sure my father stays on that island."

* * *

Standing over the precipice of the crater, Azula could finally see him; her father was standing there, wearing his overly regal and bombastic attire. After all that she had just experienced, there was only one thing on her mind, that being to ensure that he died a slow and painful death. She thought for a moment she felt how Iroh must have felt when he knew that Zhao was responsible for Zuko's shipwreck; her uncle was the furthest thing from her mind, but she knew that he was the only other person who could have a comparable grief when it came to Zuko. She had seen the airship fall into the water, and quickly approached the island, taking a few moments to regain control of her breath and focus her mind, lest she rush in mindlessly to attack her father.

Soon enough, the soldiers that were filing into the airships took note of her, and they all looked at her with shock; her father's eyes turned to her soon enough, although he was too far away to discern his specific emotional response to her arrival. For all he knew, she ought to have gone down with the airship, just like the others, who she didn't know the fates of. She couldn't save them, however; she was a firebender, not a waterbender, and her bending was best used to destroy rather than to help. She imagined her brother either being burnt alive or drowning, and either thought disturbed and invigorated her enough to force her to continue moving toward her father, who was surrounded by his personal guard.

By the time she had gotten close enough to discern his expression, which was clearly one of haughty disdain, unsurprising for her to see on his face, seeing that he believed himself to be the most powerful bender alive. She was still hinging on Aang's return, but she knew that someone had to distract the Fire Lord before he could lead his airships toward the Earth Kingdom. She had to distract him at the very least; killing him, as much as she desired it, would be the greatest challenge she had ever faced.

"Have you finally come back to beg for mercy?" he mockingly called out to her, his guards stepping closer as they took firebending forms.

"Mercy?" she asked him, beginning to laugh at him as his attempt to intimidate her; her father was an idiot, even if it was simply mockery, "I don't need your mercy. You already took everything from me."

"You did that to yourself." he declared with a smug, devilish grin, before one of his guards turned to face him.

"Your majesty, should we kill her?" he asked the Fire Lord, who shook his head.

"This fight is mine alone. I will deal with my unruly daughter myself." he declared, the Princess taking a firebending stance.

She chuckled, realising what had finally brought them back together, "You destroyed my only weakness father." she retorted, having had enough of morals, principles or anything of the likes; her father needed to be destroyed, and if she were to die trying, she accepted that for what it would be, "Zuko has given me more strength than you could ever instil into me."

"Then come on... do it." he prodded her with a smirk, the Princess shaking her head, not taking the bait.

"No." she refused, before thrusting her arms out to her sides, sending massive streams of blue fire toward the two closest airships, "I'd rather stop... my own plan to destroy the Earth Kingdom." she grinned at him, making her father snarl with fury.

"You insolent child!" he screamed at her, sending a massive stream of flames toward her; she was prepared for this, of course, turning her hands toward the ground, thrusting her up into the air above him, before she sent her own comet-powered stream his way.

The Fire Lord's face changed from one of anger to an almost stoic expression; she could tell that if he was not angry, then he was afraid, and that was to her advantage. Once she landed on the ground, she recommenced her burning of the airships, before one of the engines exploded, making the whole craft burst into flames. Instead of attacking her with another stream, her father instead charged toward her, sending flames out of one hand while he charged a fire blast in the other. She felt the flames gathering below her feet, and a moment before he could come to strike her, she flew up into the air; her father, being the master firebender he was, came after her, taking flight just the same. She flew up above the still stationary airship, aiming her fists to deliver powerful fire blasts at the frames of the craft, damaging a few before her attention was forced back to her father, who struck her with a powerful kick of flames, throwing her off angle. Once she reoriented herself, she powered away from him using her fists, her streams hitting him in the process.

"You can't fly away!" he screamed at her through the mass of flames she had created between them.

The Fire Lord, however, seemed to be unscathed as he pushed higher into the air, sending another fire blast her way; she sent a kick with her right leg, her own fire blast cutting her father's in half. When he saw that she was unscathed from his attack, he fury grew even stronger, breathing out flames as he pushed himself faster after her; Azula moved back toward the ground, dodging her father as he flew past her, before she sent a fire ball right into the back of his head, disorienting him for a moment. Taking advantage of his weakness, she turned her attention back to the airship, slashing at one with massive fire-whips as she lowered herself back toward the ground, now on the opposite side of the island from where she had first confronted Ozai. She turned herself around, looking at her father as he stared back down at her from the rim of the crater; his fancy armour and outfit was damaged, and he tore it from his body, ready to fight her with a crazed look on his face.

"Do you want to die?!" he screamed at her, the Princess smirking at his shattered sense of confidence; his anger was disguising his fear, and she knew that she would only have to push him so far, and he would make a fatal mistake.

"Death is something I no longer fear, father." she declared, her confidence making him further infuriated.

"You will!" his voice boomed as he sent another fire stream her way, the Princess jumping up out of the way; as she was standing right in front of an airship, her father made the mistake of accidentally setting one alight.

His stream followed her movements, forcing her to boost herself higher into the air with her firebending; looking back down at him momentarily, she grinned evilly as she kicked through his stream, before sending a stream down with her foot. The flames struck the ground at an impressive speed, but her father was more than agile enough to dodge her attack; he then sent himself up into the air after her, firing a volley of massive fire blasts at her, each one stronger than the last. She was able to dodge, using the advantage of gravity to free-fall down toward the airships, which he continued to strike unintentionally, much to her approval; even if she couldn't defeat him head on, she could more than certainly make him destroy his own weapons of mass destruction. Using her bending to glide up above the airships once more, her father continued to chase after her, sending fire blast after fire blast her way; she could feel his flames encroaching on her body, but knew there was little she could do but continue flying forward, knowing that if she stopped her father would hit her. Flying down between two of the airships, she used them as cover, spinning around to send another fire stream at the Fire Lord, whose infuriated expression only further improved her own mood; his anger was getting the better of him, and his inability to hit her was only making his strikes more wild and uncontrolled. That both made them harder to block and easier to dodge, knowing that as long as she kept moving, she would be relatively safe from his attacks.

"Come on, you can do better than that!" she mocked her father as she boost herself back up out of cover, throwing two slicing waves of fire his way.

He broke through her attack with ease, before he sent another fire stream at her; Azula was more than ready to dodge it, pushing herself higher into the air as she readied herself to send an articulate fire blast right at his head, hoping that she might incapacitate him. Ozai anticipated this idea, however, sending a kick up in her direction as he flipped himself around, both dodging her attack and sending one at her, striking her square in the chest and flinging her back. Her tunic was set alight, but she used her bending to dampen the flames that singed her skin and made her grit her teeth from the intense pain; it was nothing compared to what her father had down to Zuko's face during that Agni Kai, but it hurt intensely. She struggled to keep herself in the air as she thrust herself away from her father, raising her arms to block another attack from her father.

Her father looked at her with a ruthless glare as he fired another stream at her, the Princess letting herself fall underneath his attack, before she landed on the ground; as her father dropped down, nearly striking her, she rolled out of the way. Now as she returned to her feet, he was barely a few strides away her, and the next fire blast he sent her way forced her to skid backward; she sent a fire whip at him in return, but it was rather ineffective against Fire Lord Ozai, of all people. That attack was followed by a kick from her father, which she ducked underneath before sending a small bolt of flames to strike the back of his leg; being at such a close range, it was easy to hit him, and he screamed in pain, although unlike when she had been injured, he turned that anger back at her, throwing his energy into a fire stream. She put her arms out, cutting the stream in two, but she quickly realised that her father intended to strike her with his bare hands. She decided to dodge his attack by sending herself back up into the air, taking note that the airships, at least those that were still functioning, had begun to rise up into the air. Although the Fire Lord continued bend his powerful fire stream up toward her, she flew high enough that his attack was ineffective against the rockets of blue fire bursting from her heels. Her father didn't come after her again, instead spinning his fingers around; upon seeing those very motions, she dispersed the last of his fire stream, allowing her to have a direct line of sight on him. She took a deep breath as time seemed like it was slowing down, but she knew that was impossible; her eyes focused down at her father, as he moved through the form swiftly. The lightning bolt he sent at her came up within a moment, and unlike the last time she had caught his attack, she didn't falter in her form; there was no pain, only an exhilarating moment of euphoria, the greatest high she had ever felt. So much power within her body in a single moment, that she felt as if she was the Avatar herself.

Feeling the energy course through her gut, she began to scream at the top of her lungs, she began to scream out at him at the top of her lungs, making sure he could hear her ecstatic tone, "Now! Now you will die!"

Redirecting the lightning out of her right hand, she fired it right at him, but was sorely disappointed to see that she had missed, Ozai having sidestepped her lightning bolt; feeling aggrieved that her attack had failed, she used her hands as jets to approach him at rapidly increasing speed; as she fell down toward him, she moved her hands in the same motion he had, charging her own lightning.

"Die!" she screamed at him, thrusting her arm out to shoot him full of lightning.

In her moment of action, she made a grave mistake, however, realising that she had fired too late, her father grasping her arm as she came in to strike him; that didn't stop her digging her heels into his chest, kicking him down to the ground. Although her lightning had failed to hit him, the sound of what she could only assume was a number of her father's ribs snapping assured her that she had seriously injured him. Climbing back to her feet, she looked upon him with a smirk, before she noticed something in the corner of her eye; it was Appa, and there was people on his saddle. Her eyes widened with realisation, knowing that she had made the wrong assumption about their fates; she wanted to feel ecstatic upon realising that her brother was alive, but she was distracted by her father, who groaned, obviously still conscious.

"Why won't you just die?!" she questioned him with a shout, charging a lightning bolt in her hands again; Ozai was quick enough to send a kick of flames at her, making her bolt fire off angle, going up into the sky above them, nearly striking one of the airships that had begun to fly up into the air.

"You will pay for that... you will burn!" he screamed at her with all his fury, sending another fire blast her way, which she was barely able to disperse; she shot herself back into the air with her feet, sending rockets from her feet, but was forced to dodge another attack.

Her father then sent another stream at her, the Princess flying higher into the sky, moving away from his attack as quickly as it came; she smirked confidently, knowing that she could get away from her father before her friends could deal with him. Before she could make a counter-attack however, she found her body filled with a familiar extreme burning pain,; her father had sent another lightning bolt at her, through his own attack, this time entering her body through her foot, making her scream out in pain as she felt the same sharp and intense sensation again. For a moment, all of her mistakes flashed before her eyes; how she had treated Zuko as a child, how horrible and manipulative a friend she had been to Mai and Ty Lee, and worst of all, how she had followed her father's ideals so blindly. Not knowing if she was going to die in the next moment, she simply accepted her actions, and everything that had led up to that moment of euphoria and tremendous pain. She was able to throw the bolt out of her body quickly enough, but the pain became so intense that she passed out; the blackness that followed was not reassuring, as the last thought she had was one of utter dread.

* * *

Katara's eyes widened as she led Appa's reins, seeing a body fall down from the sky, knowing it couldn't be anyone other than Azula. She had been flying the sky-bison toward one of the airships, which they had flown above to avoid being shot at by the firebenders on board, but her attention turned to diving downward. The look of utter shock and dread on the Fire Nation Prince's face indicated to her well enough; she had been struck by lightning again, it seemed. She couldn't see the Fire Lord at that very moment, the airships currently flying over the island obscuring his position, but she flew down before they reached the shoreline, instinctively fearing whatever power he could already muster, given that Sozin's Comet was already above the horizon.

"Zula!" she heard Zuko scream out beside her, "We need to get her!"

"Working on it!" the Water Tribe girl assured him, "Hold on!" she directed the passengers, who dropped lower on the saddle as Appa's speed picked up measurably.

Diving underneath the airships, she made sight of the splash the Princess's fall had made; she stood up as they approached the water, her eyes momentarily darting to her left, where she could see the Fire Lord standing tall, staring them down with hateful eyes. As soon as they got close enough to the water, she jumped down into it, using her waterbending to push the water away, just as she had when the airship was sinking. The ocean was her domain, and her bending was excellent for the goal she sought to achieve; manipulating the water as she landed in it, she was able to sense Azula's body, pulling it up out of the water. She guessed for a moment that the sense she had felt under the water was akin to how Toph saw through the earth, but that thought was pushed out of her mind as she pulled the Princess's body closer, touching her wrist to feel for a heartbeat. Luckily, she could feel one, and she quickly used her waterbending to draw the salt water out of her lungs, throwing it out, and allowing Azula to breathe, the Princess coughing as she regained consciousness with the help of her healing hands. Rising up with the assistance of her bending, she landed back on the saddle, where Zuko was tensely standing, facing his father who stood in the distance, preparing an attack to strike the stationary sky-bison.

"Yip, yip!" Sokka screamed out, throwing the Prince off of his feet as the sky-bison quickly rose up into the air, speeding away from OZai, whose fire stream missed Appa, but only barely.

Katara's attention returned to Azula, who lay in her arms, groaning as she cringed with pain, "F-fuck... again..." she mumbled, reminding the group that she had indeed experienced the same attack from her father once before; without a second thought she drew out some water into her hands, placing them over her chest, the Princess's eyes widening as the pain began to lessen.

"Th-thanks, Katara." she mumbled her name, which she approved of, seeing that she wasn't being referred to as 'water peasant', her favourite nickname for the Water Tribe girl.

"Don't mention it. You survived another lightning bolt." she stated the obvious, which still came as a surprise to Katara, who was further surprised by the fact she immediately pulled herself up from her splayed form, her eyes darting around the saddle.

"Oh, so everyone's okay. That's good to hear. I thought you were all dead." she admitted, making her brother chuckle as he shook his head.

"Nope. It'll take more than falling out of the sky to kill us." he declared confidently, before his eyes turned back down toward their father, who had begun to fly with the assistance of firebending, "I don't know if any of us can face him."

"Aang will come back, I'm sure of it." Katara stressed, the Prince's eyes narrowing at her.

"But are you sure he'll be able to win. Will he do it?"

"We'll be able to help finish him off, brother." Azula assured him, rising him, to which the Water Tribe girl placed a hand on her chest.

"No, Azula. You need to save your strength. We need to take down these airships, and I'm sure you can help with that."

"I think I know how we can do that." Sokka cleared his throat, their father turning to face him with a smirk.

"A yes, a plan. What did you have in mind, son?"

"Well, I was thinking there's a lot of airships, but we only need one to take the rest down. We can use it ram the others."

"Oh... I thought we were going to use bombs." Amari mumbled, making her superior chide her.

"Now's not the time to think about blowing things up. That'll be the fastest way to take out the fleet?" Suki questioned, the Water Tribe boy nodding.

"Yep, now let's go steal us an airship!" he raised a fist, the sky-bison flying at speed toward the closest airship, which was luckily, not the goal of the Fire Lord, who continued to fly forward, approaching the front-most airship.

As the sky-bison approached the top of one of the airships, Toph gestured down to it, "This is all made of metal right?"

"Uh... yeah, just like our old one." Suki answered her question, the little earthbending girl cracking her fingers.

"Oh, it's my time to shine." she declared, before jumping down onto the top of the airship, immediately stabbing her hands into the metal frame, using her bending to create an opening by peeling a metal sheet off.

"Follow me!" she told the group, the Kyoshi Warriors jumping off first as Appa settled down ontop of the airship for a moment, before Hakoda and Sokka followed, Katara turning to face the two Fire Nation royals.

"You two should stay up here, your firebending will be a lot more useful when you're on the outside." she suggested, the two of them looking a each other; although she was still in pain, Azula took the effort to smirk, pointing at the Water Tribe girl with a face of confidence.

"Let's destroy these damned airships once and for all." she declared, the Pricne momentarily looking down toward Suki; their eyes locked for a moment and Katara grimaced, realising what he must have been feeling.

She guessed that it was akin to the feeling she had felt when her father left her and Sokka at the South Pole, or when Aang had suddenly disappeared; it was a kind of dread, a fear that was left unspoken in some cases, that one mightn't see their loved ones again.

"Yip, yip!" she called on their mighty sky-bison, who groaned, before he flew up into the air, following Katara's directions as she led him down to the side of the airships, which Zuko and Azula fired streams of fire at simultaneously; the pure intensity of the attacks amazed her and she realised for a moment what Aang would be facing if he really was about go fight the Fire Lord.

"Please... stay safe." she mumbled under her breath, knowing that even if he couldn't hear her, the Avatar would hopefully know that she was hoping for the best.

She didn't want to fulfil the stereotype set out by the horrible play rendition of their adventure, but she would admit that hope was the only thing she had at that point; Hope that her friend would be strong enough, in body and in soul to finally bring an end to the reign of Fire Lord Ozai.

* * *

Standing before the Fire Lord's airship fleet, Aang watched as his flying lemur glided away, knowing that he had to face Ozai alone; everything he had learnt from the past Avatars had told him the unmistakable truth. He had to be decisive against his enemy, and the Lion Turtle had provided a method to do so without killing his opponent; the idea of bending the Fire Lord's very chi was an amazing and terrifying concept at the same time. He had been offered a path to fulfil his destiny, but he knew that he would risk everything in trying to do so; he thought to Katara, to all of his friends, to everyone he had failed in disappearing a hundred years prior.

Watching the Fire Lord begin to burn the land below him, he gritted his teeth, understanding what he had to do; Aang closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before he made a number of quick kicks, bending parts of the pillar below him, before sending them back toward the Fire Lord's flagship. Jumping to the next pillar, he watched the rocks fly past the airship; he seemed to have caught Ozai's attention. One of his rocks hit an engine on the side of the balloon, making the airship loser power, beginning to descend; he didn't need to be an mechanical genius like Sokka to figure out that if he hit the engines enough, the airship would just fall out of the sky, like a very tired Appa would. The Fire Lord stopped his attack, before eyeing the Avatar with hateful eyes, who sent a stream out of his fist, aiming to strike the engine again; when he hit it, the airship began to drop down.

The Fire Lord shed the armour he was wearing off of his body, which seemed to already be damaged before he had arrived on his airship; the Avatar didn't know how that had had happened, but he had a guess that a certain Fire Nation Princess or her brother was the cause of that damage. He just hoped both of them were alright, knowing that it was wrong for them to have to take up his own responsibility to face down Ozai. The Fire Lord flew toward him, all while his airship began to fall down to the ground, all while he used his firebending like rockets, moving to land on a stone pillar across from him. The look of confidence, of almost fatalistic self-assertion, was more than noticeable to Aang, who was forced to listen to him make his declaration of 'victory'.

"After generations of Fire Lords failed to find you, now the universe delivers you to me as an act of providence."

Aang tensed up, knowing that the fight he was about to have inevitable, as much as he didn't want to face the Fire Lord, especially under the influence of Sozin's Comet, "Please listen to me." he tried to ask of Ozai, "We don't have to fight. You have the power to end it here and stop what you're doing." he told him, the Fire Lord looking right back at him with a confident, evil grin.

"You are right. I do have the power. I have all the power in the world!" he declared with a shout, shooting flames out from his hands and mouth; as scary looking as his show of power was, Aang knew that he wouldn't back down- Azula was right, the Fire Lord had to be stopped.

For a few moments, he and Ozai stared each other down, knowing what would ahve to come next; a massive fight, the hardest Aang had ever fought, and if he were completely honest he wasn't ready for it. As much training as he received from his masters and guidance from his past lives he received, he didn't think he'd ever be able to face the man before him without a sense of fear. He was everything bad about Azula, turned up to a degree he didn't think was possible, with a face that looked like an unblemished form of Zuko's, which was more than unnerving to look at. Jumping up into the air, the Fire Lord raised up a finst, before slammed it downward, making a massive wave of flames, which Aang jumped over; once he landed down on the stone pillar below him, he grasped it with his earthbending, before grabbing the piece of stone, raising it into the air. He stared down Ozai as he threw the massive fragment at him, which frustratingly enough, he dodged, with his impressive use of firebending to fly. He had seen Zuko and Azula use it similarly at the Western Air Temple, but the pure speed he could achieve with it was scary. The Fire Lord propelled himself right at him, using the jets of fire at his feet to send a stream his way, which Aang returned in kind; the massive explosion that result made the Avatar squint, realising how much power Sozin's Comet had given them both.

The memory of what he had seen at the Southern Air Temple, instead of making him dread his own fate, made him realise his own strength. If Monk Gyatso could defeat a dozen Fire Nation soldiers under the influence of the comet a hundred years prior, then he, the Avatar, should surely be able to face off the Fire Lord. He refocused his attention on jumping out of the way as Ozai sent another massive fire stream his way, before bending a portion of pillar down to strike the Fire Lord; he was fast enough to dodge, and took chase after Aang as he continued to throw fire blasts his way. He returned the same attacks to the Fire Lord in kind, although he could tell, despite his own overwhelming strength as a bender, Ozai was absolutely unrelentless in his firebending; he sent another stone pillar at him, hoping to knock him down, at the very least slow him down or at the best restrain him. The Fire Lord shattered the pillar to pieces, jumping onto one of the fragments before he began to bend a lightning bolt, the form of which he recognised from the Dancing Dragon, of all things; he airbent a gust to throw himself up into the air, missing the bolt as it was fired his way.

As the Fire Lord seethed with fury, seeing his attack fail, he sent up a stream of flames at the Avatar; he sent his own fire stream toward the Fire Lord, making a massive explosion between the two of them. As a wall of flames appeared before him, Aang realised that he could use the Fire Lord's blindness to his advantage, bending the pillar behind him, ripping it to shreds into a number of stone projectiles, which he aimed for the last place he had seen the Fire Lord. Firing the stone shards through the wall of flames, he tensed up for a moment, readying a stance as he awaited the inevitable response from Ozai. Once the flames began to whither away, he could finally see the Fire Lord, who was standing with the stone shards surrounding him, his hands covered in flames.

"You will pay for that, you runt!" he screamed at the Avatar, "My ancestor destroyed your people! I'll finally finish what he started!" before he shot up into the air with the power of his firebending; Aang jumped right out of his way, missing another powerful stream fired his way as he used his airbending to slice through the attack, throwing his opponent back momentarily.

The young Avatar knew he would lose the fight if Ozai cornered him, and he knew that the comet was the Fire Lord's primary advantage; without it, he had a reasonable chance to defeat him without resorting to the Avatar State. Flying up into the air, he sent a fire stream toward the Fire Lord, hoping to distract him while he analysed his surrounding environment; he made out a waterfall, which he grasped with his bending, taking it in hand and thrusting it in the shape of a water whip toward him, who he hoped to ensnare. He threw the water toward Ozai in two streams around what remained his his flames; the Fire Lord simultaneously sent a volley of fireballs toward him, which he was able to block with a shield of earth. He heard the Fire Lord grunting at he was struck by the massive water whips he had conjured. Aang jumped up to throw the pillar underneath him at his opponent, who had quickly regained his senses, sending out a stream of fire to hit the Avatar; he dodged the attack, while sending the stone right at Ozai.

"You cannot avoid your fate!" he screamed at him, jumping above the stone fragment before aimed his feet at the Avatar, his firebending rockets streaming right toward him; he raised his hands to deflect the attack, feeling the searing heat grow stronger as he approached him, even as Aang was able to funnel the attack around him.

Tensing his arms as he tried to maintain his breathing, the Avatar closed his eyes; he focused on the thought of what he wanted to achieve, and the chakras Guru Pathik had taught him about. He was unsure if he was ready to let go of all his attachments and accept the ultimate power he had been offered; his conversation with Iroh about the topic came to mind, as far as that was to his current situation physically, even though the emotions he felt were all too similar. He opened his eyes, thrusting his arms forward, knowing what he needed to do; as he began to break through Ozai's flames, he declared to himself the truth. He needed to fight, and fight with all his strength.


	61. Love Over Hate

"See Suki, it worked! No more crew."

Suki's eyes widened with surprise, realising that Sokka's plan had worked without a hitch; she honestly thought it was a pretty stupid idea to call on the crew for a birthday party of all things when the crew was meant to be making sure their airship was burning down the Earth Kingdom. After Toph broke them into the bridge and beat the daylights out of the men in there, she thought that they might have to fight off the entire crew to make sure they could sabotage Fire Lord Ozai's attack; however, it didn't turn out to be the case, to both her relief and shock.

"I can't believe that worked." she mumbled, Amari raising a fist with a grin, which coming from her wasn't reassuring.

"I'd say that's good proof that the Fire Nation is full of idiots." she exclaimed, making Toph snicker.

"Dumber than Sokka, of course." she raised a finger, making the Water Tribe boy snarl at her.

"Hey! I'm not that stupid. My instincts can just be a little off... sometimes."

"Now, now, everyone doesn't need to argue over my son's intelligence." Hakoda tried to soothe the situation, making the little earthbending girl scowl slightly.

"No, no, I'm more worried about the instincts." she stressed, her head tilting toward the Water Tribe boy, "Did your instincts tell you to leave me behind in that sinking airship?" she queried, making the bridge fall silent; she did remember that Zuko mentioned he pulled her out from an air pocket, while the Water Tribe boy had somehow ended up on the surface.

"I... I didn't do that. I just didn't know where you were." he tried to defend himself, his voice growing uneasy; Suki stepped between them, making sure she could direct their attention to the more important matter at hand.

"Aren't we here to use this airship to destroy the fleet, not bicker about who was the most responsible when we all nearly drowned?" she questioned the pair, who looked toward the massive streams of fire that were being sent out of the other airships toward the ground, as well as what she could only guess to be Aang fighting the Fire Lord, looking at the massive streams of fire.

"Oh, that is true." the Water Tribe boy admitted, before gesturing to Sawa, "We need to get higher."

The Kyoshi Warrior nodded, before she turned her head back to face him, "Uh, you said we were going to ram the airships earlier. Did you change your mind?"

Sokka shook his head before grinning, "No, no, I got a little inspiration from Aang when I saw him use all those moves against the Fire Lord. We're going to slice through them." he explained himself, before gesturing to the head warrior, "You can take the wheel, if you'd like."

"Thanks." she accepted his offer, walking over to the wheel, and eyeing the airships, trying to figure out the angle they'd have to come in at to strike the rest of the airships, "Uh, we're going to need to speed up a bit, and then turn sharp; that's the best way to hit the airships all at once."

"That's a pretty sound idea, but don't we need to- uh- get off the airship alive?" Hakoda questioned, the Water Tribe boy shaking his head.

"Don't worry, Dad. We have Appa to pick us up." he stressed, "As soon as Katara sees us up top, she'll fly over and scoop us up." he explained their escape-plan, before turning to face the head warrior with a grin, "Let's go with your idea. A sharp turn and fly straight into them."

Suki then grabbed a hold of the wheel, turning it first to the right, so she could get them a sufficient distance away from the airship fleet; it would make no sense to 'slice' them right away, as all of them were in the bridge, the part of the airship that would likely be destroyed first once it made contact with the fleet.

"Okay, how high above did you want us, Sokka?" Sawa questioned him once more, the Water Tribe boy raising his hand to try and eye-ball how far above the other airships they were already.

"This is high enough, now, we've got to turn and then... speed this up, as fast as it can go."

Nakata stepped forward, her eyes narrowing on him with a concerned expression, "But won't that just make the engine..." she began, before she gasped with realisation, "Oh, I see where this is going." 

"This thing isn't going to be in any way recoverable when we're done with it." he declared confidently.

The head warrior stared forward, focusing on what angle she would be at if she turned the airship at that very moment; she did some basic calculations in her head, but it turned out she didn't need to when Sokka called out to her.

"Turn!" he almost demanded, making her roll her eyes before she swiftly turned the airship to the left, making the craft tilt slightly.

As they came to face the other airships, which were thankfully in a long and neat line for them, the Water Tribe boy grinning brightly as he turned to face Toph, who had a rather uneasy look on her face, standing by the window.

"Toph, what's wrong?" he asked her, to which she simply turned back to face him.

"That's a lot of fire down there, isn't it?"

The group consciously took a moment to notice the massive streams of fire the airships were pouring down on ground below, which to their luck, didn't seem to be occupied by any people; it momentarily distracted them before the Water Tribe teen, who seemingly had propensity for giving them orders, gestured to Esumi, who was handling the speed of flying the airship, "Now would be a good time to accelerate."

"Got it." she accepted his command with a rather snide tone, which she expected of any of her warriors, who were all rather used to one person giving them orders, that being Suki herself.

As the airship began to speed up, the airship began to rattle, enough so that even Amari tensed up, "Okay, I think the airship's telling us to leave."

"Yep!" Sokka raised a fist, before pointing to the door behind them, "Let's go! It's gonna be a rough ride! We need to get to the top of this thing, fast."

The group quickly turned their heels to racing out of the room, Hakoda leading them down the halls, "Let's just hope everyone went to the birthday party." his eyes darting into the rooms they walked by as they made their way toward the ladder that would lead them up to the top of the balloon.

"I sure hope they did." his son acknowledged with a grimace; although it was unspoken, they all knew whoever found themselves stuck in the gondola when it began to plough through the others wouldn't survive.

As they reached the ladder, they all began to file up it quickly, the two Water tribe men going first, then Toph, and finally the Kyoshi Warriors, with Suki standing by the base of the ladder, chanting on the group to quickly begin climbing.

"Go, go, go!" she called on them, before the last of the group, Amari began to quickly ascend the rungs of the ladder.

She followed on after her warriors, quickly pulling herself up each rung, becoming more fearful as began to feel the airship shaking below her, followed by a deafeningly violent scraping noise. She continued to climb up the airship, the ladder began to rattle, making her tense up as she continued to eye upward, focusing on the hole that led outside, and watching it slowly increase in apparent size; suddenly she found the floor down below her collapsing, making her grasp hard on the ladder as it was unhinged from the ground, and the lower portion of it snapped off.

"Faster!" she shouted upward, not getting much of a response but the grunting from her fellow warriors as they clambered up toward the top of the quickly collapsing airship; she thought she had calculated the right amount of time to get off safely, but she was unsure that was actually the case as she refused to look down at the open air below her.

As she reached the top of the airship, she glanced about, seeing Sokka, Toph and Hakoda racing up toward the front of the airship; she found her arm grasped by Nakata, who helped her up off of the ladder.

The head warrior pointed to the others before breaking into a sprint, "Let's go!"

Her eyes momentarily glanced to her side, taking note of the airships as they flew into them, making each ram into the next in a cascade of explosions; she was struggling to maintain her balance as she ran along the centre of the airship, which continued to shake violently, and eyed the central chimneys, where Sokka was leading the other two.

"Come on, guys!" the Water Tribe boy called on the Kyoshi Warriors, "We need to get Katara's-" he began to before suddenly the ground between them ripped apart, the head warrior coming to a halt as she made sure her friends didn't fall into the quickly expanding crevasse between them.

Looking back at the others, Suki shouted out, "Keep going!" she told them, before she turned to her fellow warriors, "We need to jump, now!" she told them, looking around to see the airship crumbling around them.

She raced forward, eyeing an airship below them, jumping down the rather large distance to land on it; she was followed by her warriors, who were luckily skilled at acrobatics, just like herself, and were able to land without much more than a scratch. The leader of the Kyoshi Warriors looked up to what remained of the front end of the airship that the other three were riding, grimacing with fear as she watched them drop down onto another airship.

"Are they going to be alright?" Esumi asked her, Suki glancing around, trying to spot Appa, but was unable to.

"As long as Katara gets to them, yes." she admitted, before cracking her knuckles, "Now, let's take over another airship." she smirked, pulling out her fans; her fellow warriors drew out their own weapons, Amari smirking confidently as she opened the hatch that would lead them down to the gondola.

"Two airships in one day. We must be getting good at this."

* * *

Sokka knew that he was good at making plans up on the spot, and seeing that his friend was a highly skilled earthbender who could also happen to bend the material the airship they were standing on was made of, he figured out pretty quickly how that ability could be used to their advantage.

"Toph, metalbend the rudder so it's jammed in a turning position. The ship will spiral and slam into the others."

"Got it!" she exclaimed, pushing both the Water Tribe boy and his father, who was surprised to see that she could do such a thing.

"She can bend metal?" he gasped with awe, his son chuckling.

"Yeah, it's pretty cool, right?" he grinned, Toph's face turning into a confident smirk as she began to move the rudder out of place, making the airship quickly begin to spiral to the right, slamming into the others.

"You could stand to mention it more." she added once she finished bending it, glancing across the breadth of the airship, watching as it began to drive through the remaining airships.

Suddenly he heard a hatch opening behind them, the Water Tribe teen realising that a firebending soldier had appeared, ready to attack them; he found himself pushed out of the way by Hakoda, "Get out of the way!" he shouted, allowing his son to narrowly dodge the fire stream that was sent his way, before he kicked at the firebender, momentarily stopping him from burning them all alive.

Sokka's jaw dropped with terror, grabbing Toph by the hand, "Run!" he told them both, sprinting as fast as he could, narrowly dodging the attack as he quickly made a bolt for the other side of the ship; he was fast enough to get out of the way, but found himself jumping off the airship itself, thrusting his sword into the side of it to slow their descent, his eyes looking up to see that his father hadn't jumped with them, his eyes filled with dread as he watched them both quickly slide down.

"Sokka!" he screamed his name, utterly mortified as the pair of them slid down the side of the airship; space sword slowed them down enough that they were able to avoid falling flat off the side of the airship.

His eyes took note of a platform standing below them, aiming to land on it with his two feet; he was lucky enough to land right where expected, but felt a sharp pain in his left leg, struggling to retain a hold on Toph's hand with his left. He realised that she was hanging off the edge, and tightened his grip around her wrist, gritting his teeth as he tried to bare with the bare of what he guessed was his leg breaking.

"My leg!" he cried, before he tried to give his friend a reassuring tone, "Hang on Toph!"

"Aye, aye, captain." she nodded, looking up to him with an obviously fearful expression; he tried to pull her up, but was unable to, his body facing the wrong way.

As he began to try and turn his body around to pull her up, he heard footsteps, his eyes darting about to take note of two soldiers racing onto the platforms beside them; his eyes filled with fear, before he decided to shout out the one thing he knew might help them.

"Yip, yip!" he called out, before he realised he didn't see or hear Appa nearby, "Aw man... it was worth a shot."

He eyed the two soldiers, before he grasped at his back with his right hand, ready to throw his boomerang at one of them; as one began to firebend, the Water Tribe boy took the chance, throwing the boomerang at right at him, hitting him in the head and knocking him unconscious. The other firebender readied himself to attack, Sokka kicking his space sword up with his right foot, knocking it into the air, before he caught it with his right hand. Without a second thought, he threw it toward the platform the soldier was standing on, slicing it off and making his opponent fall down, although he was held up from certain death by the chain he was attached to.

He grimaced, watching his last weapon fly away, "Bye space sword." he dejectedly farewelled it, still trying hold onto Toph; he knew his grip was slipping, and tried to hold onto her hand as best as he could.

He knew that his father might come to them in time, but he would have to fight through the soldiers on-board to do so; his eyes darted around, hoping to spot Appa, but at that very moment, he couldn't see the sky-bison. As a group of firebending soldiers arrived on outside platforms, he gulped with fear, realising that they were doomed.

"I don't think boomerang's coming back, Toph." he admitted, "It looks like this is the end."

He couldn't hear his friend, but he could guess she was feeling pretty similar emotions to him; he watched on fearfully as the soldiers took their stances, but was confused as they suddenly broke formation, running away in fear. He realised what scared them when he turned his head to see another airship fast approaching their one; when it collided with their own, the whole platform shook violently, and he let Toph drop down, reaching safety below. Instead of following her, he tried to pull himself up, knowing that his friend was safe, while his father was in danger, still somewhere on-board.

"Sokka!" she called out to him, the Water Tribe teen shouting back as she began to move away on top of the other airship.

"I need to find my dad!" he told her the simple truth of the matter, his friend looking up at him with an understandably fearful expression, unable to do anything as she began to move away.

Rising to his feet with some struggle, due to his broken leg, he noticed that the firebenders had run back toward the gondola; he began to limp toward a ladder that he could see nearby, hoping that they were trying to take cover still. He was quickly proven wrong, however, seeing a soldier step out to send a fire stream his way, ducking down as he grunted again in pain. He turned back to face them, grimacing with fear, which was alleviated as he saw another fire stream be fired, this time being blue. Azula had landed on the other end of the platform, and began firing her own flames at the soldiers, quickly overwhelming them all as Sokka continued to lay down in fear; she offered him a hand as he looked down at him with a smirk, her face looking as confident as ever.

"Need a hand?" she asked him, the Water Tribe warrior accepting it with a a relieved smile, which quickly turned to a serious expression.

"My dad's somewhere inside. We've got to find him, and then get out of here." he explained, the Princess nodding with agreement; he was surprised that she was acting so altruistically, but he didn't question it.

"No weapons?" she asked him with

"Threw them at the enemy to save myself." he explained his actions, making the Princess cringe slightly, before she put an arm around his shoulder, helping him walk toward the gondola proper; she made a grimace, realising her situation, "I'm saving someone's father while I hope someone kills my own."

"I guess that's what it is. Where's Zuko and Katara?" he asked her, the Princess gesturing to their right, where he could see Appa flying about, the Prince on top of his saddle, sending out streams of fire at the remaining airships, "Ah... that's where." he acknowledged before momentarily looking down to the other airship where Toph had landed, which was speeding away, taking that note that he could no longer see his friend topside.

"I think Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors are in control of that one." the Princess clarified, as she sent a kick of flames into the gondola, striking down two soldiers who stood in their way; she walked up to the ladder that stood in the centre of the room, leading up to the next floor of the gondola, and hopefully, closer to his father, "Up this way, he'll be coming down to get you, won't he?"

"Yes, he will." he smiled, trusting his father would do everything he could to try and help him; as he climbed up the ladder with some struggle, only having one leg that worked properly, he heard the sound of fighting above them, "That'd be him." he admitted, climbing up to the next floor, where he was able to spot bursts of flames down the hallway immediately.

"Hey!" Azula shouted out, catching the soldiers' attention as she pummelled them with a quick succession of fireballs, which she able effortlessly send out due to the power of Sozin's Comet.

He followed after her, watching with awe as she gave the soldiers a beat-down like down other, her flames rushing through the hallway like a wave, all-consuming and frighteningly powerful; when the flames cleared, he could see his father standing, his clothing singed and his arms and legs clearly burnt, although he soon fell to his knees, groaning in pain.

"Dad!" he called out, racing up to his father with a fearful face, realising how much he had been through just trying to reach him; Hakoda's face changed from a grimace of pain to a smile as he saw his son's face, looking up at him with relief.

"Sokka, you're alright... where's Toph?" he asked him, the Water Tribe warrior gesturing out the window.

"She was able to get down onto another airship. I stayed to come find you, and Azula came to help out." he then gestured to the Princess, who turned away, probably not wanting the attention.

"Thank you, Azula." the Water Tribe chief made a genuine smile of appreciation toward the girl he hadn't exactly been friends with; she had been at odds with him, mostly due to the bad impression she had made with Katara's 'life-changing field trip', although it seemed now that was incomparable in light of her saving his life, "For saving both me and my son."

"Don't mention it." the Princess dismissed his words, "Now let's get down back to the platforms. Hopefully Katara sees us. I can fly with the power of the comet, but I can't exactly hold you two up with me." she explained their situation, which made the two Water Tribe men grimace, both of them realising it might have been better if she hadn't mentioned the problem they were facing.

Sokka, despite his leg injury, walked on ahead while his father was helped along by the Princess; his leg was the only part of his body that hurt, while he guessed Hakoda was feeling pain all over his own. They made their way back to the ladder, which he climbed down first; the Water Tribe warrior sliding down it slowly, touching down at the base of the ladder with his right foot to avoid worsening his injury. He helped his father as he came down himself, before he turned to face the two exits, seeing the firebending soldiers cowering down by the base of the stairs, most of them barely conscious after the beating Azula gave them. The Princess eyed them herself before gesturing for them to follow her along the platform, leading outside of the airship; he came to realise how close to the ground they were getting, after the integrity of the balloon itself had been destroyed by the other airship clipping it.

"We're getting pretty low. How are we going to call out to Katara?" he asked the Princess, who shook her head, pointing up to the sky-bison that was fast approaching them.

"We don't need to." she observed the obvious as Appa made a roar, approaching the platform from below; the look of relief on Katara and Zuko's faces was expected enough, the former called on them to climb onboard.

"Come on! The airship's going to crash." she prodded them, the Water Tribe teen not needing any further prodding to jump down into the saddle, landing awkwardly and hurting his leg again.

"Ow, ow, ow!" he yelped, before turning his attention to his father, who grunted as well as he landed on the saddle, his expression showing the absolutely horrible pain he was feeling.

"Dad, what did they do to you?" his sister gasped with horror, pulling out some water while Zuko led the sky-bison away to safety, flying up toward the pillars where they could clearly see Aang still fighting the Fire Lord, and from the looks of it, using the Avatar State.

"Ergh... burns... you know?" he mumbled, falling out of consciousness; the Water Tribe siblings looked at each other with fear as she began to heal him, her water covering his chest, tending to the burns closest to his vital organs first.

Zuko turned back to face them, specifically looking to his sister, "I think we might need to intervene."

Azula nodded, her eyes turning just the same as Sokka's had toward the fight that was occurring, "As soon as he relinquishes himself out of the Avatar State, he'll be killed by father. We need to stop that from occurring." he declared, standing up on the saddle.

"Sokka, take the reins. Go to Suki and the others." the Prince ordered him, making the Water Tribe teen groan, but he nodded nonetheless.

"Yep, got it." he agreed, pulling himself over before giving the two siblings a wave, "Good luck, don't let Aang stuff it up."

Azula chuckled at him, standing by the edge of the saddle before raising her arms out, dramatically looking as if she was about to fall off and fly, which to his understanding, she was currently capable of doing with ease, despite her injuries at the hand of her father.

"That's the idea, idiot."

* * *

Watching Azula jump off of Appa's saddle at any other time would have scared Zuko, but he knew what was at stake; as he himself stood up on the edge of the saddle, he looked back toward Katara and Sokka, both of them silently nodding at him. They didn't need to say anything, because he could see it in their eyes; Aang had to win, and the Fire Lord had to do stop. He knew that his friend, the Avatar, was under the control of the Avatar State, rather than acting out of his own free will, and if the past Avatars pushed him to kill his father, he would break out of the Avatar State, and leave himself vulnerable to his father's attacks.

Using his firebending to propel himself into the air, Zuko sent jets out of his feet, flying right toward where he could see Aang chasing his father; the glowing eyes and stern expression disturbed him to no end. The Prince understood that the boy he was looking at was not his friend, but rather the culmination of thousands of years of Avatars combined into a single being, all intent on restoring the balance of the world. The Avatar grasped out with his hand, a water whip grasping the Fire Lord's entire body before throwing him down onto a nearby pillar; despite the attack not sending his father unconscious, he had no time to react as he was ensnared by earthbending, Aang flying above him, surrounded by streams of all the elements. Looking to his sister, who had landed on a pillar nearby, he saw her expression; she was amazed, and terrified at the same time by what she was witnessing.

He began to listen in to Aang's commanding voice as he landed nearby, watching as his father was left helplessly trapped on top of a pillar, "Fire Lord Ozai, you and your forefathers have devastated the balance of this world, and now you shall pay the ultimate price!" he declared, sending a chill down Zuko's spine, turning to face his sister, who was utterly shocked, realising that the Avatar was about to do what he claimed he could not.

Aang began to funnel the streams of water, fire, earth and air into a single stream, like a massive whip made of all the elements, throwing it above himself, before it was sent down at his father, who was trapped and unable to do anything but watch his demise; Zuko could only think of one thing as he watched, and that was the mistake that he had made in burning Zhao's face. No matter how arrogant and evil that man was, he had not burnt his face and thrown him out to wander the world; the man who had was about to die. The justice from all the misdeeds made by the Fire Lord and his nation were finally coming his way, and the Prince had no issue with it. Suddenly however, Aang's tattoos stopped glowing, and his attack dispersed into nothingness, a splash of water covering his father rather than the horrific death that was intended for him; he began to float down to the ground, turning away from Ozai.

"No. I'm not gonna end it like this." he refused to kill his father, landing on his feet; the Fire Lord was leaning over, looking pained, but clearly freed from his bounds; in a moment, the Prince realised that his father had the opportunity he feared he might abuse, the moment of mercy Aang was willing to grant.

Zuko clenched his fists, setting into action as he flew toward him, "Hey, arsehole!" he screamed out, the Fire Lord's attention immediately turning from the Avatar to him.

"You-" he began to call out the Prince, before he found himself struck in the chest by a powerful bolt of flames, and subsequently thrown off of the pillar, much to the shock of Aang, who turned around to see the Prince landing beside him.

"Zuko! I was about to do something!" the Avatar shouted at him with an aggrieved tone, before he himself pointed at his father, who had landed on a smaller pillar, and was still dazed from his attack.

"He was about to kill you!" he growled before he turned to face the Fire Lord, letting all the emotions he had held back for three whole years spill out, "Ready to meet grandfather in hell, old man?" he shouted at him, the Fire Lord returning to his feet with a snarl of fury.

"You shouldn't have ever had the chance to live. You are my greatest disgrace!" he shouted at the Prince with more anger than he had ever heard on his tongue.

He spun his hands around, sparks flying through the air for a moment before he sent a lightning bolt square into Zuko's chest; he was expecting it, of course, and felt the massive amount of energy surge through his body. It was the most euphoric experience, the ultimate high, and the Prince felt more power than he could ever hope to bend himself; the power of the comet, combined with his father's own lightning, it must have been comparable to Aang's practically divine power. He momentarily considered killing his father with the lightning bolt then and there, but he knew that wasn't what his uncle would have wanted him to do; he wasn't going to betray the Prince he had become, all the work he had done to become the best version of himself, all for petty revenge. He smirked, realising the fact of the matter as he redirected the lightning into the air above him.

"I'm not going to kill my father, Aang." he assured his friend as he took a firebending stance, before he tilted his head toward his sister, who was already taking a stance, ready to fly right at her father, "Let him have it, Zula!"

"Die!" she screamed out, forming a massive fire whip with her right hand, sending it right down into the pillar on which there father had been standing; he got out of the way, but the attack literally split the stone column in half, collapsing in a cloud of rubble as their father flew up into the air, aiming to strike Aang.

The Prince and the Avatar both sent out fire streams at him simultaneously, throwing him back, flying through the air for a few seconds before he was able to reorient himself and land on a pillar; by the time he was able to do that, Azula had already flown up into the air above their father, sending a fire blast right at his head. The Fire Lord thrust his arm out to deflect the strike, but was unable to stop himself getting struck in the chest by the rockets coming out of her feet. Forcing him down onto the pillar, Azula raised a hand up as she stood on his chest, her hand filled with flames, in a situation that eerily reminded him of the burn he had received in his Agni Kai. That outcome didn't eventuate, with the Fire Lord sending a punch at her chest, the Princess jumping up to avoid the fire stream that flew up into the sky above them.

"You insolent brats!" he screamed, throwing his hand up to try and send a fireball at his daughter, but found himself stopped by Aang, who used earthbending to pull legs into the ground. The Avatar and hte Prince jumped across the chasm between them and his father, while the Princess landed right in front of her father; she relentlessly hammered him in the head, not even bothering to bend before she punched him in the jaw.

"I really thought you would have put up more of a fight, honestly." she mocked him, the Fire Lord gritting his teeth; he didn't even look up, as he was dazed, but when he did, he saw her hands moving into form to create a lightning bolt; Aang and Zuko looked at each other momentarily with shock as they stood behind her.

"Azu-" he began to try and warn her, but he wasn't fast enough; she pointed her right hand down toward their father's chest, only to have it thrust up by a pillar of earth, sending a lightning bolt up into the air.

"I know how to get rid of his bending!" Aang shouted at her, "That's what I was going to do!"

The Princess looked at him with surprise for a few moment, before an cunning smirk formed on her lips, "So... do it." she crossed her arms, turning to face her father, "This is a far more fitting fate, actually." she grinned evilly at the man she had grown to hate, whose eyes widened with utter dread; she stood out of the way while Ozai was earthbent into place, who still attempted to try and return to a fighting form.

The Fire Lord growled with anger, making one last attempt to break free with a roar of flames, which the young Avatar was able to disperse with ease, placing one hand on his forehead and another on his chest. Zuko's eyes widened with shock as he saw Aang's head tilt up, a blinding blue light coming out of his mouth and eyes, beaming up into the sky.

"What the..." the Princess mumbled with near horror, before their father's eyes and mouth lit up the same, but orange instead of blue.

What freaked them out even more than just that was their entire bodies becoming consumed by the light, the Fire Lord coloured orange and the Avatar blue; it was pure goodness versus pure evil, physically manifested. The orange energy began to spread from their father's body into Aang's, which it slowly, but surely began to consume; Zuko's eyes widened with fear, wondering what might happen to either if one consumed the other. He tensed up watching the orange grow further and further across his friend's body, wondering whether he should drag them apart; he didn't know what would happen to Aang if he failed, but the Prince knew that if he had to, he'd kill his father then and there to save him. Although it looked as if the orange light was going to completely consume him, the Avatar suddenly shone out, brighter than before, his blue light then quickly consuming the Fire Lord's body, an intense beam of blue light firing up into the sky above. Once the blue light faded, Ozai fell down to the ground as he was realised from his grappling of earth; he rose up momentarily, attempting to try and attack the the all-powerful Avatar, but fell down to ground instead, gravely weakened, seemingly permanently, by the removal of his bending.

"Now... now you get to live with the consequences of your actions, father." Azula confidently declared, kneeling down beside his face as he remained slooped on the ground, "Your only mistake was burning Zuko's face." before she looked up to her brother, "If you hadn't done it, he would have put Uncle to shame; we would have conquered Ba Sing Se. We would have ruled the world together. But you chose wrong. You chose your path, and look where it has led you."

"You're both weak." he grumbled, the Prince shaking his head.

"No, we're not. We became more than what you made us." he declared, before turning to face his sister with a smile, tears falling down his cheeks, "We became brother and sister."

"Love." Aang declared, making a smile, genuinely happy with how their battle had finally turned out, "You chose love over hate." he declared, before turning to the Prince, "You both did."

"Yes." the Prince agreed, before he turned to face the last remaining airship in the distance, where he knew Suki would be, "Yes, I did."

* * *

"So... uh... who's the Fire Lord now?"

Azula raised a brow at Sokka's suggestive question as the group sat around in the bomb bay of their new airship, resting after the fight of a lifetime; the Princess looked to her brother, who stood up, signifying the thing she already knew as a fact- her brother was going to be Fire Lord, and that was the fact of the matter.

"I will succeed my father as Fire Lord, and hopefully, we can have peace." he admitted, the group looking amongst themselves.

"Is this something you didn't consider?" the Princess asked them, "I was under the presumption that you had a plan for 'fixing' the world."

"Uh... well not exactly." Aang admitted with an embarrassed face, "I thought it was going to just be as simple as the Four Nations becoming four again, and the Fire Nation going back to the Fire Nation."

"Well..." she mumbled, realising she was going have a conversation that would make her out as being against them, even if she agreed wholeheartedly with his idealised intentions- peace, that was, rather than war, "I can't agree to the complete abolition of the Fire Nation colonies."

"S-sorry, what?" Katara's jaw dropped with surprise, "What do you mean you can't agree?"

"Because doing so would destroy the Fire Nation's industrial base, and displace tens of thousands of people from their homes." she explained, raising a finger to stress, "People who were born in 'the Earth Kingdom'."

"Azula, you can't be serious." her brother chided her, "The Fire Nation took all that land, displaced the people there, making them refugees. If the colonies remained, where would those people go?"

"They could just go back." she suggested, knowing that under her brother's rule, the Fire Nation would no longer be needlessly cruel to its Earth Kingdom subjects, and thus the land could return to peace without the threat.

"I thought you were on our side. What you're saying... it goes against everything we fought for." Aang stood up, pointing at her accusingly.

"You fought to defeat the Fire Lord, not to rip the Fire Nation apart and make the Earth Kingdom even worse than it already is. What do you think is going to happen when the Fire Nation withdraws from Ba Sing Se and the rest of the Earth Kingdom? Everything's going to be nice and peaceful? The Earth King will rebuild his country and they'll prosper?" she asked him, the Avatar edging back, the grimace on his face growing, indicating that he, begrudgingly or not, saw what she was saying.

"You know, she has a pretty good point, Aang." Suki raised a finger, "I've seen what it's like out there. I'm not saying that the Earth Kingdom won't get better, but it's going to take more than the Fire Nation leaving to fix what's broken."

"I mean, the Earth King's a good guy- I'm sure he'll-" he began, before he was cut off by the Princess.

"The Dai Li are going to retake control of the city." she declared, "And before you ask me, I doubt they'll follow my orders now, as much as I'd like a personal secret police to enforce my will..." she explained her reasoning, before she realised the concerned looks on everyone's faces, "That was a joke, by the way."

"I don't think it was." Zuko admitted, the Princess rolling her eyes.

She had lied, of course, seeing that a secret police would be extremely effective in dealing with her father's loyalists who might want to revolt or plot against her brother's new regime; not that she would want anyone to know about it, which made her face-palm in hindsight.

"I shouldn't have said that."

"Wait a minute..." Sokka stood up, looking at the two royals, "If the Fire Lord's our prisoner... then who's running the Fire Nation?"

"Probably a clique of generals in the capital." Zuko admitted, before he eyed the others with an expression of dreaded realisation, "Um... there is a possibility a civil war might begin... like in the next few days."

"Oh." Aang's eyes widened, before he began to shout in surprise, "Oh! That is not what I wanted to happen!" his hands came up to his cheeks, "Uh, should we turn this airship around and head straight for the capital?"

"Well, I mean we could, but we're nearly at the old campsite, aren't we?" Zuko asked out, before he turned his head to his girlfriend, "Uh, what was the last update from Nakata?"

"She said we were about half an hour away, and that was... nearly half an hour ago." she admitted, before standing up, "We should probably get ready; we'll need to pack up that camp, and then head straight for the Fire Nation Capital."

Katara stood up as well, "I'll go check up on Dad. I can trust you all to not start fighting while I'm gone?" she asked Aang, Zuko and Azula collectively, the three of them nodding in confirmation.

As she left the room, the Princess turned to face her brother, "What are we going to do then? If father's war council decides to go against us."

"Then things are going to get very bloody, very quickly. I didn't learn lightning-bending for no reason." the Prince admitted, making Sokka and Aang both grimace with fear, thinking about what the two of them could do in a fight.

"Well... at least we know who'd win." the Water Tribe boy acknowledged, the royal siblings nodding in agreement; they weren't being cocky, as both of them were collectively the most powerful firebenders alive, seeing that their father had lost his bending.

"Imagine if Azula hadn't joined us." Toph suggested, "That mightn't have ended very well."

"I know." the Prince stressed with a grimace that gave off as little emotion as possible, "That's why we should be glad it ended the way it did. The Fire Lord has been defeated, and hopefully, we can fix the world together."

The Princess looked away, knowing that her brother had done his best to try and be a good brother, and she had gone against his advice numerous times; she could have let him face off their father at the capital, and perhaps he would have dealt with his lightning-bending better. Or perhaps even she could have not suggested to their father that he burn down the Earth Kingdom, so their take-over of the Fire Nation would go more smoothly that it was likely to turn out. She had made too many mistakes, and it was only due to the pure luck that they had on their side that they had won with no casualties; her father had nearly killed her only a few hours earlier, and she was under no presumption that she would have been able to survive if Katara hadn't scooped her out of the water. She had heard after the battle that Sokka and Toph had nearly died, only surviving due to the Kyoshi Warrior's intervention in crashing their airship into the one the pair were struggling to hold on to.

"Well, let's go pack up that camp." Suki rose to her feet, gesturing to the group, "You can all help, can't you?"

"Yeah, we can." Aang confirmed, gesturing for the others to follow as the Kyoshi Warrior led them to the exit of the airship.

They all walked up to a wide doorway, which she opened with a button, revealing a ramp that was lowering down, just as the airship itself was arriving at the camp; looking down she could see Haru, Teo and The Duke, avidly awaiting them. Looking up to the sky, Azula took note that the sun was only just rising, their journey and fight having only taken up the span of a single night, in which Sozin's Comet passed and the Fire Lord was finally defeated. As the ramp touched down to the ground, the three boys approached them with surprised expressions.

"Wow, did you guys get a new airship?" Teo asked them, the Water Tribe boy rubbing the back of his head with an uneasy expression.

"Ah, yeah. The old one got blown up." he explained, their jaws dropping with surprise.

"Are you all alright?" Haru asked, looking around, "Where are the Kyoshi Warriors, and Hakoda?"

"My Dad got burned in the fight, but Katara's taking care of him." Sokka explained, before Suki answered in situ of her warriors.

"The Warriors are commanding the airship. I'm going to get their things, so we can all leave."

"Leave where?" The Duke questioned them, Toph walking down the plank to greet him.

"We're going to the Fire Nation Capital again." she explained, his expression brightening.

"To free our friends?" he asked, the earthbender girl nodding.

"We are." she confirmed, before Zuko cleared his throat.

"And I have to be crowned as Fire Lord." he explained, the three looking amongst themselves.

"What did you do with the Fire Lord?" Haru asked them, Aang looking back into the airship.

"I took his bending away, and now he's our prisoner."

"Take his bending away?!" the earthbender boy exclaimed with shock, looking to the others, "That's insane."

"Yeah, we were just as surprised when we heard." Toph acknowledged, before gesturing to the camp, "We can talk on the airship. Let's get this camp packed up."

As the group walked on down the ramp, Azula and Zuko remained up by the top, looking at each other for a moment; the Prince was the first to speak, "Are you okay, Zula?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." she lied, before making a genuine smile at him, "You should spend some time with your girlfriend. I bet she's gotten grumpy that you're hanging around me all the time."

"We just beat our father together. I've been worried about you ever since I got back to the Fire Nation."

"I know, Zuzu." she assured him with a hand on the shoulder, "You don't have to 'Uncle' me. I'm sure as long as the Earth King doesn't want to conquer the colonies, we'll all be fine."

"You say that like he's not going to try that if we refuse."

She cleared her throat, "If you refuse." she corrected his phrasing of the matter, seeing that he would be Fire lord, not her.

"I'm not going to ignore you, Azula. You're one of the smartest people I know."

"One of?" she raised a brow, making a smug grin, "Who are you comparing me to, exactly?"

"Well, I personally would say that my girlfriend is pretty witty, and the Kyoshi Warriors are all smart as well."

"Ah, I thought you were going to compare me to Sokka. I would have had to punch you for that." she warned him, making him snicker as he began to walk down the ramp.

"No, no, he's far smarter than us all." he mocked her, making her clench her fists before rolling her eyes, knowing that he was joking.

"You know, I really preferred it when you were serious all the time."


	62. Fire Lord Zuko

As their airship landed down before the Royal Palace, Zuko couldn't help but tense up; he distinctively remembered telling Amari not to blow it up with their old airship, and was still glad she hadn't. Looking out of the bridge, he could see a number of guards approaching, obviously confused as to why an airship would be landing in the palace grounds; he pulled up his robes by the shoulders, hoping that he was looking proper enough to address people, seeing that he was soon to become the Fire Lord. The fact that they weren't attacked on the spot by the guards was a good sign, and he turned to face the Kyoshi Warriors, who were as per usual commanding the airship.

"Hey, do you need us to guard you against your guards, your majesty?" Nakata piqued her head up, making him roll his eyes.

"No, not really. I'm sure Azula is going to give a terrifying speech to ensure that they fall into line. If need be, we can show them my father in his pitiful state; I'm sure they'd understand the situation better if they saw him." he simply spoke his mind, Esumi raising a brow and gesturing down the hallway.

"Well, go on then. You do actually need to go tell them you're Fire Lord, don't you?" she prodded him, making him nod in confirmation.

"Okay, I'll go. Just make sure you're ready to fly this thing out of here, in case things go side-ways."

"We're the Kyoshi Warriors. We're always ready to escape when things go side-ways." Amari stressed with a tone of confident, "Now, seriously, go. We don't want to drag you out there, but if you're really that nervous, we will."

"I'm not nervous." he retorted, clenching his fists before he quickly strode on down the hallway toward the exit of the gondola; it didn't take him very long, and when he got there, Sokka, Toph, Katara and Aang were all standing waiting for him.

"Are you ready?" the young Avatar asked him, making him smile, trying to show his confidence as best he could.

"I've been ready for a while." he admitted, before his eyes darted around, "Where's Azula?"

"Um..." Sokka mumbled before pointing out the doorway, where he could see Suki restraining the Princess from getting any closer to the guards.

"He's the Fire Lord, you idiots!" he could hear his sister scream out, making the Prince chuckle.

"Hey, Toph? Could you do me a favour?" he turned to the stout earthbender, who crossed her arms, raising a brow at him skeptically.

"What is it, Sparky?" she stared him down, despite the fact she was blind, making the competition, if one would call it that, rather easy for her to win.

"Could you fetch the Fire Lord out of his cell, with metalbending of course. I might need to prove our victory."

"Yeah, yeah. I could do that." she accepted his request, turning around to walk down the hallway to where they had been keeping his father.

"Oh... bring out the Loser Lord, will you?" Sokka asked her the same question in his own Sokka fashion, making the Prince roll his eyes before patting him on the shoulder, acknowledging his joke for a moment.

Striding down the stairs toward his sister and girlfriend, he raised his hand up, gesturing to the guards, who were taking firebending stances around the ramp, "Excuse me, I think there's been a misunderstanding."

"There's no misunderstanding to be had, brother!" the Princess scowled, "He is the Fire Lord. You just said it yourself, he declared himself Phoenix King, superseding his position as Fire Lord, and the Avatar just dethroned him. Ergo, Zuko is the Fire Lord." she explained their situation, making the Prince snicker; the title of Phoenix King was something that their father had murmured after he had been defeated, and Zuko had actually thought it was just illusions of grandeur rather than a title he actually bestowed upon himself.

"You are both declared enemies of the state. You are to be arrested on sight." one of the guards clarified, making the two royals look at each other with the same expression- frustration.

"Don't you realise that there is no other option?" Suki asked of the guards, "There is no more Fire Lord or Phoenix King Ozai. These are the heirs to the throne, whether you like it or not."

"Urgh." one of the guards groaned, turning to who the Prince assumed to be his superior, "Sir, should we go tell the emergency war council that the Prince and Princess have arrived?"

"I believe that is in order." the leader agreed, before turning to face them both, "You better not try and leave the capital while this issue is being sorted out. We won't arrest you, if only for the virtue of you having possession of one of the most powerful weapons in the Fire Nation." he warned them, Azula scoffing at him.

"Seriously? Do you believe yourself? We're the most powerful firebenders alive. We could take you all down in a heartbeat, without this stupid airship."

"I don't think-" Zuko tried to advice against his sisters rather extreme bent for violence, but was interrupted by the sound of Toph calling out, "Here he is, your royal majesty, the Phoenix King of Getting His Butt Whooped!"

The Prince turned around to see his father bound to a large sheet of metal that the earthbender was holding with the assistance of a few floating boulders; his father was awake, and was clearly shocked when he realised he was back in the palace.

"Wh-what is the meaning... you fools, arrest them!" he shouted out to his guards, who looked amongst themselves, obviously taking note of Ozai's dishevelled appearance.

"I wouldn't bother, if I were you." Azula warned the guards, before gesturing to their father, "Father here doesn't have his bending anymore, the Avatar took it from him."

"That's impossible!" one of the guards called her out.

"Yes, it is, scarily enough." the Princess reaffirmed her statement, before turning to face their father, "Come on, 'Phoenix King', if you're really the best firebender in the world, you should be able to escape right now."

The former Fire Lord glared at her, grunted as he tried to loosen himself from his metal binds before he sighed with defeat; the guards looked amongst themselves for a few moments before the head guard cleared his throat.

"Okay, I feel like we might have made some assumptions." he admitted his fault, the Princes stepping closer to him.

"Are you going to call on the Fire Sages now?" she asked him, indirectly requesting the coronation of her brother.

"Um, yes. Yes, we will." he admitted, "I am sorry for doubting you, your royal highnesses."

"You really shouldn't have." the Princess chided him, "You should just be glad I'm in a good mood, or I might have shot you full of lightning."

"Azula!" Zuko chided her, gritting his teeth as walked over to her, grasping her by the shoulder and pulling her away from the guard.

"Don't worry Zuzu, I wasn't actually going to do anything." she assured him, the Prince rolling hsi eyes before turning up to face his friends.

"Well, you all may as well come inside. The coronation won't happen until midday, I guess." he suggested, his girlfriend making a whistle, which didn't make much sense for a few moments until he realised it was to call on the Kyoshi Warriors.

"Thanks, your highness." Toph grinned, before she gestured up to Ozai, who she was still holding up with her bending for everyone to see, "What do I do with your dad?"

"Uh... just put him back in his cell for now." he gave her the first directions that came to mind, "I'll have the guards deal with him properly at a later time."

"I'll go meet with the war council with Azula, and you all can rest. I feel like you've all deserved at least that." the Prince admitted, his friends looking amongst themselves before Suki turned to him with a serious expression.

"I'll come with you." she almost ordered him, her tone stern, even Azula giving her a surprised glance.

Although he was within his powers to refuse her, he didn't want to, if anything he wanted more than anything for her to be by his side when he finally made his intentions clear for the world to see.

"Are you sure you can handle that? They might not be open to what you've got to say." Aang asked him, to which he shook his head.

"I'll be fine." he gave his friend a reassuring smile, "They'll listen. They will have to listen." he added, before turning his heels, followed by his sister and girlfriend as they made their way up toward the front door of the palace, the palace guards all moving out of the way as soon as he began to walk to walk in that direction.

As he approached the front door of the palace, he couldn't help but think back to what had happened there the last time he was within its walls; he had finally chosen the side of good, but he had almost lost his sister to their father's merciless use of lightning. He remembered looking down at her body as she struggled to breathe, and the expression on his girlfriend's face; she regretted that day more than anything, and no matter how many times the Prince told her it wasn't her fault, she couldn't help but blame herself. He understood why, but he just hoped that now that his father was finally defeated that it would be less present in her mind.

He took a deep breath, looking at the doors as they were opened for him, before he took a step into the palace, reminding himself that it was indeed his home, even though his little room on his ship and the room he shared with his uncle at Ba Sing Se seemed far more 'his' than he thought the palace ever could. Funnily enough, the place he found to be the most homely was Kyoshi Island, although he would admit that was mostly in hindsight, seeing that he had had dejectedly agreed to his do chores, sleep in a dojo, and be beaten innumerable times by the Kyoshi Warriors.

He momentarily turned to face his girlfriend, who smiled back at him, reaching out her hand to grasp his own, "We're finally back in this damned palace again." she observed, "I just hope we'll leave with some better news than last time."

"That's what we're all hoping for." he acknowledged, turning to his sister, who tilted her chin up before she began to stride inward, indicating that she did agree, but seemed not overly fussed by the events that had transpired; their father's defeat had truly improved her mood, although he was unsure if it was going to last.

"Come on you two. We can reminisce later. Right now we have to make sure we don't find ourselves at the wrong end of a coup."

* * *

"We are your humble servants, Fire Lord Zuko."

Tensing up as she watched all the men who she knew probably despised her boyfriend bow to him, Suki felt a strong uneasiness in seeing their deference; it seemed like a lie to her, a way to save face in seeing the turn of events fall out of their favour. The war council was just that, a council intended for war, and from her understanding, even if Azula and Aang might have disagreed on what was to happen to the world after the war was finished, Zuko certainly didn't intend to leave the world off in its horrible state; he was there to fix it, and a lot of that 'fixing' would probably be not well received by the men before her.

"So, if you don't mind me asking, what was your most recent military report?" Azula asked of the highest ranking officers in the Fire Nation military, who looked amongst themselves for a few moments, before one of them stood up, "Ah, General Shinu. Is it the same as the last one I heard?"

"U-um, no, your highness. The earthbender rebels have seized more ground since then; Omashu fell on the day of the eclipse, although a force was sent to reclaim it. Most of the rebel forces are concentrated around the north-west of the Earth Kingdom." he gestured down to the map, the Princess nodding, looking to her brother.

"Well then, your majesty, what do you intend to do with that?" she asked, the Prince sighing as he looked down at the massive strategic map of the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation.

"Assuming that said rebel forces don't cease hostilities when I go to meet with the Earth King, I believe withdrawing our troops to the colonies, ensuring that our citizens remain protected, would be the best course of action." he spoke his mind, the officers looking amongst themselves before the one she had learned was called Shinu nodded with approval.

"That does sound like a wise course of action, you majesty." he acknowledged his plans, although Suki doubted the man before her agreed with his intentions for the Fire Nation.

"Do we know of the state of affairs in Ba Sing Se?" the Prince who was soon to be Fire Lord asked of the generals, one of them standing up.

"Uh, yes, sir. The last report was that the situation there was stable. There has been no widespread rebellion, thanks to the combined efforts of our forces and the Dai Li."

Suki's eyes darted to the Princess, who she could see make a smug, haughty grin upon hearing the result of her efforts, before she returned a far more serious expression.

"I'm afraid to inform you all that the city has likely already fallen. It is only due to a delay in communication that we cannot ascertain this absolutely." the Princess raised a finger, "The Dragon of the West, who you probably know now as a traitor, has set upon seizing the city from Fire Nation rule... although that was under the pretences of our father still being Fire Lord."

The throne room fell silent for a few seconds, one of the tenser silences Suki had experienced in the room, seeing her boyfriend's expression tense upon the mention of his uncle.

"Ironic." she heard one of the generals mumble, the Princess immediately hammering her hand down onto the table, her suddenly infuriated expression clearly showing that he had said the wrong thing at the wrong time.

"You best watch your tongue." she grit her teeth, gaining the attention of all the men present, "General Iroh is not to be spoken of in a negative light, not in the presence of my brother. It would be gravely offensive to defame his adoptive father in such a way."

The Kyoshi Warrior wasn't surprised when she saw her boyfriend's jaw drop in shock, "D-did you just say adoptive father?"

"Well, he is, for all intents and purposes. Am I wrong?" Azula asked her brother in retort, to which he simply shook his head.

"No, you're not." he spoke in a quiet, reflective tone, before his eyes scanned across the room, clearly showing his unease, if not restrained anger; Suki didn't know which high ranking officer was responsible for Zuko's Agni Kai with his father, but she had a strong feeling he was in the room with them.

The Prince stood up, and the two girls beside him rose in concert, "I believe that is all that needed to be discussed; actual troop movements is something we can consider after my coronation." he admitted, delegating the current issue of the Fire Nation occupation of the Earth Kingdom a day or so down the line; Suki couldn't blame him for wanting to not jump right into his work; his new job was going to be the hardest one he would have to ever do, and that was despite it lacking much if any physical demands.

"Have a good day, and I must stress once more, all troop movements are to be stopped. Any actions ordered by my father that are of an offensive nature dealing with the Earth Kingdom are no longer in effect." he stressed, the generals nodding in confirm that they had indeed gotten his message; though he hadn't laid out his full vision for the Fire Nation to them, what he had told them was rather explicit.

The three of them then walked on out of the throne room, the two guards that had been standing by the exit looking to them with interest, "Did you desire an escort, your highnesses?" one of them asked the two royals, the Prince raising his hand.

"I will retire to my quarters for the moment. I would like to request that the servants tend to the needs of my friends; it is only fair after such a long and straining fight that they receive all they need."

"Of course, it is your will and command." the other guard accepted his directive, the pair of them bowing before opening the doors to allow the trio to exit, "We will make sure the servants attend to such matters at once."

They walked on down through the dark hallways, the Princess raising her hands up into the air, "Well, I think I'll take my leave, now." she acknowledged, eyeing them both, "I have missed my spa sessions for far too long."

"Ah, you're in need of luxuries after what... a month and a half out of the palace?" Zuko mockingly asked of his sister, who shrugged her shoulders before walking down a different hallway.

"Yes, I am." she stressed, "Enjoy yourselves, lovebirds." she mocked the pair, who blushed for a few moments; Suki decided to defy her by kissing the Prince on the cheek.

"She's not wrong... because I do love you."

"But I'm not a bird." she stressed a clearly observable fact, the Kyoshi Warrior raising a finger to her chin.

"Are you sure? I distinctively remember Azula rambling about 'a little burnt turtle-duck' when she was injured." she joked, her words a distortion of the truth; she had actually heard the Princess mockingly call him one at a certain point, but she realised she had hit a heart string when his face drooped down.

"It was just a joke." she assured him, punching his shoulder playfully.

The Prince made an uneasy smile as he began to walk on down the hallway, "Y-yeah, yeah, I know that." he assured her, although his tone indicated that he felt a little uncomfortable by her joke, and not in the way that he was offended- he would have certainly showed that if that was the case.

"I feel like I said the wrong thing." she admitted, his eyes darting back to meet her own, trying to make a reassuring smile.

"I-it's okay, Suki. Really." he stressed, the Kyoshi Warrior stepping closer; she knew something was up, and she wanted to help- that's what she ought to do, at the very least.

"No, I can tell something's up. You can tell me what's wrong." she asked of him; the Prince fell silent for a few moments, before he began to walk faster, perhaps subconsciously, his eyes looking ahead, instead of toward her.

"It's my mother." he put it simply, "You reminded me of something she had once called me. Azula does it to mock me, but hearing it from you... it just reminds me of what's... gone."

Her eyes fell down, unsure how to respond; his mother was such a touchy issue, after all, and she hadn't really spoken to him much about her. All he had ever said was that she left him when he was younger, before his banishment, and that she was kind to him; that was as much she understood about the woman who seemed to loom over her son more than she might have first realised. He understood that he found his moral compass with Iroh, although she could certainly tell even before he had decided to go against his father, that Zuko was a good person to the core, and he guessed that his mother had been that early guiding influence in his life, and without her, he must have felt lost, and maybe even without love.

"You miss her a lot, don't you?"

"I really do." he mumbled, before his eyes rose up, "I don't even know what happened to her, or where she went... but I hope that now my father is without his bending, he mightn't refuse my questions."

"You asked him before?" she asked him, the Prince nodding in confirmation.

"The very day I realised she had left, I went to ask him, but I got nothing out of him; just a cold expression, and nothing more. I realise in hindsight he must have been in a good mood that day, seeing that he was about to become Fire Lord." he admitted, before sighing, "I want to find her... but I don't know if I should even bother."

"But, if you miss her so much, shouldn't you ought to try?" she asked him, unsure why he would even try to stop himself from getting what he had wanted for years.

"I want to... but I feel like I'll just end up hating her, just like Azula does. She left me- both of us, and she could have taken us, even if father tried to hunt us down. I want her back, but forgiving her for that... it's hard."

"I understand." she admitted, before looking him in the eye, "When I found out you were a firebender and a prince, I was so angry with you. For lying about who you were, and thinking that you were so wrong to do what you did, that it was unforgivable. But then, I realised that you had no choice in the matter; we would have thrown you to the Unagi if we found out any earlier."

"I mean that is the truth." he admitted, before he narrowed his eyes, "So, what you're saying, is that without the truth, it would be wrong to judge my mother for what she did, even if at face value... it seems cruel."

"Yes." she nodded, "You love her, so if you do find her, give her the opportunity to explain herself."

He smiled at her, first brightly, before his expression darkened, as if he'd made a mistake, "I'm more worried about Azula, honestly. If I'm thinking this, she's probably got far worse assumptions in her mind. I want them to make up, like how we did, but I don't know if they can." he explained his worries, the Kyoshi Warrior clasping his shoulder as they approached the doors of his room.

"That's a bridge to cross when we get to it." she acknowledged the facts as they were; they had no idea when, if they even could find his mother, even if they tried to wrangle the truth out of the deposed Fire Lord.

"Well, here I am. My room." he acknowledged it, before chuckling, "I'm going to have the Fire Lord's bedroom now. That's a lot bigger."

"A bigger bed for the two of us." she winked at him, the Prince rolling his eyes, before he smiled at her, appreciating her comment.

"I see what you're getting at." he admitted, the Prince opening the doors of his bedroom, looking inside, to see that the bedding was the same as he had left it the day of the eclipse, and his armour was still sitting on his bed, "Well, this is exactly the same."

"Like, exactly?" she asked in clarification, the Prince nodding, before his eyes darted to his desk, seeing that the draw was ajar.

"Well, other than my father's guards going through my personal writings. Luckily for me, I don't write anything personal down."

"Oh, really?" she asked him with a bemused tone; she was rather curious to hear his argument for that.

"I'm more into actions than words." he admitted, making her clear her throat.

"Like restoring peace to the Four Nations?" she queried, the Prince placing his hands on his hips.

"Now that you say it... yeah, like that." he agreed with her, making her roll her eyes; she had been joking, actually, and she was trying to prod him into saying something a little more seductive than that.

"I was just joking." she raised a finger, before clasping him by the shoulders, kissing him lightly on the lips, only for a moment, before drawing away.

"Oh... uh..." he froze up, the Kyoshi Warrior smirking, realising that she liked it when he got nervous; it was funny, but endearing at the same time.

Suki gestured to the bed in front of them, "Come on, your majesty, are you going to get on the bed or not?" she asked him, the Prince straightening himself up before he furrowed a brow, realising her intentions.

"Oh... is this what you meant you were talking to Toph about celebrating our victory?"

"Did you want me to beat you up instead?" she quipped, the soon-to-be Fire Lord tilting his chin up, before he stepped past her, moving to sit himself down on the bedside.

"No, I prefer your suggestion."

* * *

Azula would admit that she truly enjoyed her times at the Royal Spa; being pampered by servants was one thing that she missed above all else, and she knew that she could lay there for hours, getting her self massages, while eating cherries. The servants were rather surprised by her good mood, but they didn't understand the gravity of her experiences away from the palace; the Azula who had decided to turn against her father, she was a different person to the one who returned to the palace victorious. She smiled brightly, feeling that she had finally found a sense of completion in heart; her work was done, it seemed, at the very least, the hard part of it was. Her brother was to be crowned Fire Lord, and then she would serve as his closest advisor, ensuring that her nation continued to experience prosperity, while peace could reign under her new world order. Of course, it was Aang that was to be the peace-broker, but her actions had allowed for their peace to be possible; if Zuko had not been returned into the fold in Ba Sing Se, he could have never set of the chain of incidents that led to both her betrayal and the Avatar's eventual victory over her father.

She believed, honestly and truly, that the world was at peace because she intended for it to be so; in the world where she had remained loyal to her father, she could have seen another outcome, where she Zuko fought for the throne, and one of them ended up dead, instead of their father being the one in chains. That wouldn't have led to peace, it would have led to chaos, and perhaps an absolute humiliation of the Fire Nation; she didn't know if her own intentions for peace would be considered by Aang, but ultimately, her brother had the final say in what the Fire Nation military did, and she just hoped that they retained peace rather than having their troops dawdle out of the Earth Kingdom, letting the chaos there fester like an untreated wound.

She found herself interrupted by a calling from a guard, something she didn't actually expect, given that she had intimidated them quite intensely when she arrived at the palace; unlike when she was her father's heir, she was in more than a capable position to deal down any punishment she liked upon those who displeased her, seeing that her father could not punish her for it. Not that she wanted to have someone exiled on the spot for idiotic actions, seeing that she was in a rather pleased mood, she did have the power to do so.

"Your highness, there are visitors here to see you." the guard told her in a stern voice, his tone indicating that he wasn't feeling uneasy in her presence.

"Oh, did Katara decide that she actually did want to join me in the spa?" she quipped, although she knew that the guard likely didn't even know who Katara was.

"Uh, no, your highness. It is Lady Ty Lee and Lady Mai. They requested to enter the palace to see you, and in accordance to your former permissions policy before you were proclaimed a traitor, they were permitted entry."

"I am impressed that my rules have been maintained, despite my absence." she smirked, before gesturing her right hand up toward the door, "Let them in, I'll be finished soon anyway."

She heard the door opening a few moments late rand almost as if on key, she heard Ty Lee squealing ecstatically; the Princess raised her head to look up at her friend, who was giddy and beaming, distinctively more than usual, like she had just completed three back-flips in a row on a tightrope kind of giddy.

"Zula!" she shouted her name, reaching forward to giver her a hug, the Princess raising a hand.

"Not just yet." she warned her, the acrobat pouting for a moment before she grinned, sitting down beside her while her servants continued to attend to her, washing her hair and massaging her hands and feet.

"Oh, that's okay. I'm just- like- wow, I just really want to hear what happened! You just disappeared out of thin air; like one day we were training together, and the next-"

"The next day was the eclipse." she clarified, Ty Lee nodding before she glanced back, Azula hearing footsteps approach her.

"And what happened on the day of the eclipse?" Mai asked her, the Princess raising a brow.

"Well, actually, I'd like to hear what they said happened, first." she admitted, "I saw a play depicting the adventures of the Avatar, and their depiction of what happened was somewhat... vague."

"Wait, somebody made a play about the Avatar? Were we in it?!" Ty Lee rose up, making the Princess roll her eyes, forced to remember back to the rather horrific portrayal of the past year or so of her life.

"Oh, you were. Trust me, you were better off not seeing it." she warned them, the acrobat turning to face the stoic girl.

"We have to see it." she declared, the Princess making a fake yawn before eyeing them both.

"I guess you could go see it if you really liked. I watched the production as done by the Ember Island Players." she explained, Ty Lee grimacing at the mention of that name.

"Oh... okay, now I see why you didn't want us to see it."

"Exactly." she agreed, knowing that she didn't have to say another word, "Now, where was I? Oh, yes, you were going to tell me what the official story was."

Mai stepped closer, her expression ever so uneasy, although she could understand why, after what story might have been propagated by her father, "You and Zuko both plotted to overthrow Fire Lord Ozai. and then orchestrated the overthrow with the help of the Dai Li, but you were defeated."

"The first one is true, the second one a believable lie, and the third the truth once more." she clarified her facts, before the stoic girl's eyes narrowed at her.

"After the eclipse, you were both declared traitors: Princess Azula, presumed dead, Prince Zuko, believed to be working with the Avatar."

"Wait!" she rose up from her spa treatment, "Did you just say... presumed dead?" she asked her in clarification.

"Uh... yeah." Ty Lee mumbled her expression saddening for a moment, before it brightened once more, "But you didn't die, which is great!"

"I agree." she smiled at her friend, trying to hide the feeling of dread she still felt every time she thought back to the day of the eclipse; her experience less than a day earlier was less traumatic, if only for the fact it was overshadowed by her father's defeat.

"So... What actually happened, then?" Mai inquired, the Princess sighing, as she remembered back to that fateful morning of the eclipse.

"The previous afternoon, I had attended a war meeting with Zuko; the first he had attended since his banishment, actually. Father decided he was going to try and deal with the Earth Kingdom, and I foolishly suggested he use Sozin's Comet, knowing that it was the most effective tool he could use. I regretted it soon after, and Zuko mouthed to me, without a word, to decide."

"Decide whether to choose your father, or choose him?" the stoic girl asked in clarification, the Princess nodding.

"Yes. The question sounded rather absurd at first, but I realised that after Ember Island, and after all I had done to help my brother, I couldn't betray him." she acknowledged, Ty Lee putting her hands on her cheeks, grinning brightly.

"You're a pretty good sister." she acknowledged, before furrowing a brow, "Compared to mine, of course."

"Uh, thanks." Azula made an uneasy smile in response, before she returned to her story, "I had already decided to join Zuko already, but I hadn't realised until that afternoon that he intended to betray our father during the eclipse. I had to accelerate the inevitable."

"To fight your father." the acrobat's jaw dropped, "He's like a really really scary firebender, isn't he?"

"Yes, yes he was." she acknowledged the power he father had once held, before Aang took it away from him, a last act of mercy that the Princess found to be a poetic turn of fate; instead of losing his life, he instead lost what he truly valued most, his own power.

"Uh, was?" Ty Lee's eyes widened, before she moved closer, her voice falling to a whisper, "Did you kill him?"

"No." she clarified, "The Avatar took away his bending, so he could no longer be a threat."

"How is that even possible?" Ty Lee's eyes widened, "Like, I know chi-blocking can take away a person's bending temporarily, but it can't remove it entirely." 

"A technique called 'energybending', supposedly. It was one of the scariest things I've ever since, honestly. I'm just glad I wasn't the one at the end of it." she admitted, remembering the bright blue and orange lights, how Aang was almost defeated, and then her father collapsing onto the pillar, completely powerless.

"That's... a surprise." the acrobat acknowledged with an uneasy glance before she clapped her hands, "Anyway, back to where we left off. You decided you would go fight your dad."

"Yes, so I told Zuzu the next morning, when we were set to go underground to our bunkers."

"Like we did in the Caldera City?" Ty Lee asked, the Princess nodding; she was reminded once more that there was a similar plan in place for the civilian population, for them to hide in the underground system of tunnels that gave the population of the capital protection from outside threats.

"Essentially. Zuko, being the heroically minded emotional teen he is, had already decided that he would face our father, something I decided to usurp from him, knowing that my superior speed and accuracy with my bending would face off my father better."

"But you went to speak with him during the eclipse." Mai raised a brow, "Neither of you would be able to bend."

"That is true, but I was thinking in advance, considering the worst possible situation, where the Avatar did not find my father, or didn't come to the capital at all." she admitted, before sighing, her eyes turning to her servants, who were nearly finished drying her hair, "Could you all leave us for a moment? I'd like to speak with my friends in private." she asked of them, the servants standing up and bowing.

"Of course, your highness. As soon as you call on us, we can continue." one of them assured her, before she led the rest of the servant girls out of the room.

As soon as the servants walked out of the room, she lifted her upper-body up from her rather comfortable position, properly looking at her friends; she reminded herself that the girls before her were just that, and that was what she wanted their relationship to be like. She didn't want everyone of her friends to treat her like Toph did, but she didn't want her friends to fear her either; that wasn't what she wanted, not anymore, not when she truly understood love, for what it truly was, not what her father just made it out be.

"So... why did you just get rid of the servants?" Ty Lee asked, Mai placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I think we both know why." she told her, eyeing the Princess with a glance that she could only call understanding; she didn't seem to show sympathy or disappointment, but rather just a simple understanding of what Azula must have gone through.

"It turns out, after I went down to the bunkers, that Zuko had had his girlfriend trail me, disguised as an elite guard." she continued her story, before furrowing a brow, "At the time, I thought it was a pretty bad idea to have her anywhere near our father, seeing that she's a non-bender, but I let her come along, if only to ensure that I had back-up in-case things went side-ways."

"And... things went side-ways?" Ty Lee asked in clarification, the Princess sighing as she pulled herself up, remembering back to the moment her firebending had reawakened.

"I mocked my father for the period of the eclipse, distracting him while I hoped Zuko would return with the Avatar, to allow him to finally defeat my father, before he had a chance to fight back." she explained, tensing up as she then remembered the instance itself; she had pushed Suki out of the way, realising that her father would shoot lightning at them both, but she was the only one who could take the attack and live.

"And?" the acrobat leaned closer, making Azula clench her fists.

"Suki realised the eclipse was about to end, and there was no Avatar in sight, so she wanted us to leave; she tried to incapacitate my father, so we could leave, which if it weren't for the timing, might have helped. It didn't, it just distracted us both while my father's firebending returned." she explained the situation, before she looked down, not wnating to look her friends in the eyes, "Then he shot a lightning bolt at us; I caught it, using a technique Zuko had taught me earlier that day. I didn't fully comprehend the technique yet, and the surprise of the attack caught me off guard."

"Lightning?" Mai's eyes widened, her emotions coming through for only a moment as she realised the gravity of what had occurred, "Azula, what happened to you?"

"I nearly died. If it weren't for the fact I was able to redirect the attack out of my body back at my father, I would have died then and there." she admitted, "And I nearly died for the sake of Suki; the girl I had thrown in prison only two months prior."

Ty Lee leapt toward her and hugged her, and the Princess didn't resist, "Zula... I'm so sorry that happened to you. You're- you're a hero, you know that." she smiled at her, a few tears coming down her cheeks.

"I'm not a hero- I'm an idiot. Any person with half a brain wouldn't have even gone down into that bunker." she admitted, knowing that she had had a choice, and she had made the wrong one, "I was overconfident and believed that I could just beat him- I couldn't."

"But you tried to end the war, then and there, right? That was your intention, wasn't it?" she asked him, the Princess nodding, knowing that if she cut away all of her grudges and hate toward her father, that was the truth of the matter- she wanted to end it all there, and make sure her father never had the chance to destroy the Earth Kingdom, to become the 'Phoenix King'.

"It was." she admitted, "I can't believe what I did, but here I am, victorious, my father in chains and my brother about to be crowned Fire Lord."

"You know, Azula, once I was afraid of you." Mai admitted, before she looked down at her, staring her eye to eye, "But now, I think I see you for who you really are."

"I'm a monster, I know." she pre-empted whatever she was going to say, the stoic girl shaking her head, her eyes narrowing at her, as if she was angry at her for even saying that.

"No, you're not. You were manipulated for all your life, just like I have been; you accepted that control, but you've broken free now. You're your own person."

"I- I guess I am." she agreed with her idea; if anything was true, it was that Mai understood what is was like to have parents expect so much of her, being forced to be someone that she never wanted to be.

"And what are you going to do now?" Ty Lee asked her, looking at her with awe.

"I'm going to make sure my brother is the best Fire Lord in history." she declared, the acrobat grinning at her.

"I could already guess that from your aura."

* * *

Breathing in and out, his meditative trance was broken by the sound of footsteps; Aang smiled, realising that there was only one person who would be coming down the hall at that moment. Opening his eyes, he turned around to face Zuko, who he had been awaiting for some time, while everyone else gathered outside in preparation for his coronation as Fire Lord. The Prince was standing beside his girlfriend, who had been walking alongside him in full Kyoshi Warrior garb, while he was wearing the regal robes that Aang would expect a Fire Lord to wear, his hair tied up into a topknot instead of falling down over his face. The Kyoshi Warrior whispered something to him before walking ahead past Aang, who gave her a curt wave before she exited out of the hall.

As he approached the Avatar, the Prince made a bright smile, indicating that he was in a good mood, "I think I'm ready, Aang." he declared, before he raised a brow, looking bemused, "You know, a year ago, I was scouring the world, trying to hunt you down, and now..."

"And now we're friends." the Avatar finished his sentence for him, making him chuckle.

"Well, yeah, we are friends." he acknowledged, the young Avatar raising a finger to his chin in thought, thinking back to a year prior.

"I can't believe a year ago I was still frozen in a block of ice. The world's so different now." he acknowledged, thinking back to all the things that had changed; the Air Nomads were gone, the Southern Water Tribe and Earth Kingdom devastated by war, and the culture of the Fire Nation corrupted by the vision of Sozin.

Zuko placed a hand on his shoulder, "And... well, because of all that's happened, I think it's going to change a whole lot more. But, we're going to rebuild it together." before the two of them hugged, Aang accepting his proposal without a word.

That was their intention, in the end, to as Avatar and Fire Lord use their powers for the good of the world; he didn't ignore the fact that his relationship with Zuko, is what Sozin and Roku desired without each other. He was just glad that it had turned out far better than their relationship had, and that he would have someone he trusted helping him restore balance to the world.

"Yes, together." he heard a familiar voice behind them, the Prince and him both looking back to see Azula approaching them, now wearing her own royal robes, which looked similar to, though slightly less ornate than Zuko's, "That is the intention, is it not?"

"It is." Aang confirmed, "I'm just glad you chose our side." he smiled at her, "I don't think I would have been able to become as good a firebender as I have without both your help."

"We are a good pair of masters." the soon to be crowned Fire Lord grinned, before he gestured to the doorway, "We should head out. I don't want to keep them all waiting."

"Remember to keep your 'game face' on, brother. You're going to be Fire Lord, after all." she warned him, the Avatar snickering before he began to walk forward, joined by the two royal siblings soon after.

As he walked out onto the pavilion that sat outside, Aang heard a gong be sounded, indicating that Zuko had arrived; as he approached the edge of the pavilion, which looked over the courtyard, their friends and many others cheered him on.

Zuko raised a hand, "Please. The real hero is the Avatar." he declared, indicating for Aang to walk up beside him, which he did, receiving cheers as he himself came into view; Azula stood to the other side of her brother, while he stepped slightly ahead, looking ready to address the crowd.

"Today this war is finally over!" he proclaimed, the crowd cheering in response, "I know that the world has suffered for a century, and countless lives have been lost and changed by it. I made a promise, once, that I would fix my nation, and with it, hope to fix the world." he furthered, before smiling at the Fire Lord, who continued to look forward, "The road ahead of us is challenging. After a hundred years of fighting, the world is not the same as it once was, and I know that we are more divided than ever." he acknowledged the tremendous task ahead of them, before turning to face the Avatar himself, "But I know that with the Avatar's help, we can get it back on the right path, and begin a new era of love and peace."

The Prince knelt down, Aang and Azula both looking back to watch as a Fire Sage approached from behind, holding up a headpiece; it was the same one that his father had worn, and his father before him. The history of blood and war, but also of the great leaps the Fire Nation had made, were all bound up in the icon before him. He truly hoped that his friend would bring honour to his nation and the title of Fire Lord, redeeming it from the horrible war that Sozin had plunged their world into.

As the Fire Sage placed the headpiece down, he spoke out in proclamation, "All hail Fire Lord Zuko!"

The crowd cheered as Zuko rose up to his feet, smiling as he turned back toward Aang and Azula, both of whom gave him the same grin; although he didn't know if she felt exactly the same, the princess seemed to be proud of her brother and elated that he had fulfilled his destiny. The young Avatar felt similarly about the new Fire Lord's achievements, and was glad that he had chosen the side of good; they had all chosen the side of good, and now, together, they would fix the world, no matter how bad it had become.

"Together." Aang told him, in reaffirming what he had already told him, offering out a hand, which Zuko accepted with a smirk, eyeing both him and his sister.

"We're going to change the world."


	63. Home

Looking out toward the familiar coastline of Kyoshi Island, Zuko felt an odd sense of calm he had been lacking ever since he became Fire Lord; he was always concerned about all the issues he had to deal with as the ruler of the Fire Nation, but now, as he finally looked upon the island he had once called home for a few months of his life, he didn't feel that concern. He was no more physically distant that he had been when he was in Ba Sing Se, but he did certainly feel emotionally separated from his role. No longer was he Fire Lord Zuko, but just a seventeen year old boy, returning to a place he had missed; he didn't miss the chores and struggles he had experienced there, but the happiness he held. When he was on the island, no matter how stressed he had been about his quest, his uncle's fate and his own position as a banished Fire Nation Prince stranded on an Earth Kingdom Island, he still felt a sense of being detached from his issues, that being of his banishment and his isolation from everyone he knew.

He felt a familiar hand tap his shoulder, the Prince turning back to face Suki, who had a bright smile on her face, "So, are you as excited as I am?" she asked him, making the Fire Lord chuckle, realising that he was excited, although perhaps not as much as the Kyoshi Warriors, who hadn't been home for many months.

"Well, not as much as you and the girls are." he admitted, before turning his head around to gaze toward the other Kyoshi Warriors, who were standing up by the very front of the ship, intently watching as they approached the island.

His girlfriend placed her arms over the railing beside him, leaning down slightly as she looked at the coastline, a relieved expression on her face, "You know, I wasn't sure when we left the island, if we'd come back winners."

"You thought you were just going to drop me off in the Earth Kingdom, didn't you?" he asked her sarcastically, having known even at the time, that no matter how much they disdained the Fire Nation, the Kyoshi Warriors were his friends, and they stuck together all the way to Ba Sing Se.

Suki snickered at his question, making a smug smile, "Oh, and let you fend for yourself? That was never going to happen, your majesty." she assured him, making him roll his eyes.

"I can protect myself, you know." he acknowledged his own strength, making the Kyoshi Warrior turn to face him, leaning a shoulder on the ship's railing.

"So, what, do you not need us to guard you anymore, Fire Lord Zuko?" she quipped in response, to which he shook his head.

He trusted the Kyoshi Warriors far more than his own guards, and wouldn't dare go about without their protection; even if he could defend himself quite proficiently with both firebending and weapons, warding off assassination plots and attempted coups was something that Zuko he couldn't exactly do alone.

"And leave myself in the hands of a bunch of powerful firebenders wearing masks? Not anytime soon."

"You really should vet the Palace Guard if you're that worried about them." she admitted, making the young Fire Lord tilt his chin up, remembering that a certain someone would already be dealing with that issue.

"Interim Fire Lord or not, Azula will always be looking in that direction. I'm sure she's already established her own imitation of the Dai Li in the time I've spent away from the palace."

Suki chuckled at his suggestion, before her eyes widened, realising that his words were only half a joke, "Uh, she's not actually going to do that, is she?"

"I wouldn't put it past her." he shrugged his shoulders, "The Fire Nation is in a time of turmoil; she wants to protect the peace, and a secret police is her most straight-forward way to ensure that happens. Who knows, maybe she's just laying around in the spa all day with Ty Lee?"

"That's quite a possibility." his girlfriend acknowledged with a humoured grin, "I've checked her schedules since we've be staying in the palace, and she does go there a lot."

"Hey, love-birds!" he heard the familiar voice of Nakata calling over to them, the Fire Lord turning around to face the other Kyoshi Warriors, who were still standing by the front of the ship, "Ready to go home?" she asked the pair, Suki and Zuko looking at each other for a moment, both of them making a smile of approval.

"Yeah, we are." the Kyoshi Warrior grasped his hand, before they both began to walk toward the front of the ship, looking out as they approached a pier; to their annoyance, the bay around the village wasn't accessible by the Royal Barge, so they would have to land at another village on the island, and then walk across to the warrior's village.

As the ship came to a halt by the long stone pier, the Fire Lord was reminded on the last time he was there; it was when he and the warriors left the island, taking a fishing vessel across to the mainland, where he had been found by Azula within a few hours, much to his shock. It felt unusual for him to return to the island in a ship, rather than the way he had first arrived, which was by being washed ashore after his ship was sunk.

As they approached, other warriors turned to face them, Nakata pulled out a scroll, showing it to the Fire Lord, who raised a brow with confusion, "Uh, is that for me?"

"Well, not just for you." she admitted, the other warriors looking amongst themselves and snickering.

"What's so funny?" he narrowed his glare at them, Esumi punching Nakata in the shoulder.

"Come on, tell it what it is." she prodded, the Kyoshi Warrior simply gesturing to the scroll.

"He can read it himself." she declared, the Prince raising a brow at her before unfurling the scroll; he swore he heard Suki snicker beside him, but instead of focusing on that, his attention was drawn to the rather obvious title of the document- 'The Adventures of the Blue Spirit'.

"Oh spirits." his eyes widened, before he face-palmed, his girlfriend tapping his shoulder before she gestured to the scroll in his hand.

"It gets better." she assured him, the Fire lord's eyes turning back to the document, where he read out a subtitle, "A story based on true events, written for stage."

His eyes widened with shock, before he turned to Suki, "Oh, you've got to be kidding me." he mumbled in an exasperated tone, not happy that there'd maybe be another play that put him on stage; he knew at the very least that Nakata's portrayal of him couldn't be any worse than Pu-On Tim's 'masterpiece'.

"Hey, I recommended that she make it a stage play. We can rub it in the face of the Ember Island Players and their mockery of us." she argued in favour of the Kyoshi Warrior's piece.

The Fire Lord made a smile at the amateur playwright, "I'm sure this'll be great. So, what, it's a fictionalisation of our adventure?"

"In a way, yes. I thought I captured the emotions of our journey quite well. I took some creative liberties when it came to your back-story, of course."

"Wait, so is this about Prince Zuko, or the Blue Spirit?" he asked her, the Kyoshi Warrior raising a finger.

"You'll have to read it through to find out." she suggested to the Fire Lord, who looked down at the document, opening it up to look down at the first few lines; it seemed to be a scene depicting the Kyoshi Warriors finding him, not what he had feared, which was that it was discussing the events of his banishment.

"Huh... so were you going to try and get some theatre troupe to play this?" he asked her, who nodded with a click of her tongue.

"That's the idea." she acknowledged, "I was guessing that your position as Fire Lord might help that a little bit."

"I mean I could fund the play, but wouldn't that make it essentially propaganda?" he asked her, the warrior raising a brow.

"I don't see how it's propaganda... it's just a way of showing the world what we've achieved." she explained to the group, Suki turning to face Zuko.

"Maybe you're in need of some propaganda." she admitted, "It would really help dealing with unrest in the Fire Nation, without needing... what ever Azula's got planned." she suggested, the Fire Lord nodding with agreement.

"Huh, that's a fair point. I should send a letter to Azula about this, maybe she'll be able to help you, Nakata." he offered, the Kyoshi Warrior grinning brightly.

"Oh, that'd be awesome. Finally! The world will hear about our adventure!" she raised a fist, before she was interrupted by a number of Zuko's elite guards approaching the group.

"Sir, we'll put the plank out now." one of the guards told him, to which the Fire Lord simply gestured across toward the pier.

Four of the guards raising the large walkway up in their arms, lifting it down toward the pier, before putting in place; Zuko then smiled at them, pointing back toward the ornate bridge of the Royal Barge, "Thank you for that. You're now off duty, as I won't be needing any guards on Kyoshi Island." he assured the group, who looked amongst themselves momentarily, before bowing, turning their heels and heading back toward the bridge.

The Fire Lord then stepped onto the end of the plank, momentarily checking that it was properly in place, and that he wouldn't accidentally fall into the water by accident, before he began to stride down, followed by the Kyoshi Warriors in file; the people around the pier looked at them with shock and surprise, Zuko taking note of whispers that mentioned two things- 'Kyoshi Warriors' and 'Zuko'. The fact the people in the port village knew his name meant that his story had gotten around it seemed, without Nakata having to make a play of it.

Suki stepped up beside him, whispering to him with a smile, "Huh, seems like somebody's famous."

"I mean, I am the Fire Lord." he acknowledged the obvious with a casual shrug of the shoulders.

"So, Mr. Fire Lord, are we going to go straight to the village, or did you want to sign your autograph or something?" Amari asked him mockingly, making Zuko narrow his eyes at her with disbelief.

"I'd rather avoid the crowd." he admitted, before he focused ahead of them, looking at the port village, where there seemed to be a few dozen eyes on him.

Once they reached the end of the pier, he diverted to the left, leading them along past the market, heading toward the edge of the village, where he could spot a path that led up into the lightly wooded hills above the settlement; he wanted to get to the village as quickly as possible, so he could make sure the group could get their rest. As they walked along, he suddenly found locals approaching him, all looking amazed to see the man that they could clearly recognise as Fire Lord; he immediately regretted having his hair tied up, which revealed his scar for all to see, which was the main way that even the most ignorant would be able to recognise him from.

"It's the Fire Lord." he heard a man whisper, before his attention was drawn to a small girl, who approached him.

"Uh, Fire Lord Zuko, can- can you show us the swords?" she asked, making his eyes widen, another small child nodding alone, raising their hand.

"I wanna see the swords!" he asked him, making the Kyoshi Warriors laugh at him while he nervously looked at the small crowd that had surrounded him.

"Uh, swords, right?" he asked, the small children nodding, with even some of the adults looking on with interest, "Would one of you help me with a demonstration."

"Oh, that's not fair; I thought we only got to fight you with sticks." Amari complained, making the Fire Lord's only eyebrow twitch.

"Hey, hey, this isn't a fight." he clarified, before pulling out one of his katanas, "Now, which one of you would like to have the honour?"

The eyes of the warriors looked amongst themselves, all of them gravitating toward Suki, who was probably the only one who wouldn't want to fight him; usually she was rather eager to spar, but usually their sparring was an intimate affair, rather than something that was public for all to see.

"Urgh, fine." the head warrior conceded, before she herself drew out her own katana, "Let's do this. I won't go too hard you." she assured the Fire Lord, almost mockingly, making him grin, knowing that she was prodding him into enjoying their fight- the more competitive they got, the more fun it was for both of them.

As the two of them took their fighting stances, the commoners that were eagerly watching tensed up, as their duel had yet to begin; their eyes locked, Suki cocking a smirk, before she gestured with her open hand for him to attack. He rolled his eyes, not wanting to actually harm her, but conceding to her wishes, stepping forward and swinging his katana around, before striking her own, hoping to disarm her; he didn't succeed, his girlfriend reminding him of her own physical strength as she forced him back before swinging her on katana to slice at his slide. He stepped back before ducking under another slice, now from the opposite side, sending the blunt side of his blade into her own slide, making her grunt as she herself was forced backwards; taking the opportunity, he returned to his full height, swinging down overhead, aiming to disarm her of her katana. She was able to hold off his blade, but he quickly stepped back, suspecting his was about to trip him; the smirk on her face proved that to be the case, when after two steps he found himself tripping over a retracted fan that she had dropped on the ground. His eyes widened as he fell onto his backside, but he was able to roll backwards and return to form, Suki now some distance away from him; he noticed that his hair had somewhat come undone, a few strands of hair now lining his face, which he blew out of his eyes with a blow, which seemed to amuse Suki, whose own hair still was in perfect condition.

"Come on, fight!" he heard a little girl demand of them, making him snicker; for all his power, he had ended up using his skills to have a mock duel with his girlfriend, all for the enjoyment of some commoners he had never met before.

The two them raced back toward each other, both intent on ending the duel then and there; he swung first, switching sword-hands to fool her as he slashed from the right, but didn't expect her to somersault on the ground, right under his swing, before she whacked him in the back of his right leg with the blunt side of her blade. He grunted with pain as he dropped his right leg down, but somersaulted forward once more to dodge her next attack. He turned back to face her, readying himself in a defensive stance while Suki strode forward, holding her katana casually as she approached him; her grin was so cocky that it could only remind him of his own sister, which was unsettling to say the least.

"Getting tired, your majesty?" she asked him, although the tone made it hard to discern whether she was genuinely concerned or simply mocking him.

Although he was pained in his right leg, he still took the effort to climb to both feet, eyeing his girlfriend's katana as she began to swing it about, trying to throw him off guard with which angle she would strike from; he took note that she had stepped forward with her left foot, and thus expected a strike from that direction. His assumption was proven correct, and he swung his blade in concert, striking it downward, as if he were intending to cut into the ground. Her eager handling of her blade meant that she accidentally dropped it when he applied enough force, leaving her disarmed as he himself put his blade back into its sheath. There was an awkward silence for a few moments as Suki took a deep breath, before the crowd cheered out in response.

"Did you see that?!" a small boy shouted out, another child speaking with a similarly amazed voice a moment later.

"He just struck it right out of her hand!" she exclaimed, imitating the motion Zuko had made when he disarmed her, before another pointed to the other blade that was holstered on his right leg.

"And he only used one!"

Esumi cleared her throat, leaning down to address the children, "So, did you think the Fire Lord is good at fighting."

"I think the Kyoshi Warriors are better." one of the boys suggested, "They've got fans, and are great at punching too!" he suggested, reminding Zuko that the warriors he had spent the past few months with weren't the only Kyoshi Warriors, but rather just one group that originated from their village.

"We are pretty good at punching." Sawa acknowledged with a grin, imitating a strike to Amari's head, which made the other warrior flinch downward as if to dodge.

"Hey, don't scare me like that. I might actually punch you in the face." she warned her fellow warrior, making the kids look amongst themselves.

"Could we see you all fight?" one asked, Suki clearing her throat.

"I think we've had enough fighting for the morning. If you really want to see us fight, then come to our dojo." she suggested, the children looking amongst themselves.

"Ooh, can we go?! Can we go?!" one asked someone Zuko guessed was their parent, who shook her head with frustration.

"You have chores to do. I'm sure all you little ones have things to do." she told the children, whose faces dropped with disappointment; the Fire Lord looked at the Kyoshi Warriors, gesturing with a tilt of his head along the path, his suggestion being heeded immediately as they followed him along the path, Suki momentarily stopping to pick her fan up off the ground before she caught up with Zuko, continuing to walk alongside him, her expression turned into a smirk.

"You know, I really appreciate that these kids are as interested in fighting as we are. Maybe we've got some future Kyoshi Warriors just waiting to be recruited." she suggested, making him snicker, thinking of the idea of a bunch of nine year olds protecting him against assassins with fans and swords.

"Oh, well, I don't know how that'd work in the palace." he joked, making his girlfriend snicker.

"I wasn't suggesting you be guarded by children, by the way. There will always be another generation of Kyoshi Warriors; that's how it's been ever since our group was established." she admitted, before tilting her head up, "One day, we'll have to retire. It's like any profession."

"We're artisans- artisans of war, to be precise." Sawa piped up, the other warriors nodding along.

"That does have a nice ring to it." Amari agreed, "What you think, boss? Should we rename ourselves the Hammers of Kyoshi?"

"As cool as that sounds, we use fans, not hammers. The Kyoshi Warriors is far more succinct- elegant." Sawa argued in favour of their name, making ZUko nod with agreement.

"I'd say that too. You don't want to sound too pompous; you're cool, but you let people think you're cool, not rub it in their faces."

"We kinda do that to our enemies, though." Esumi admitted, before her eyes turned to Amari, "I'm talking to you, o great and mighty 'piercer of the voice-box'." she reminded her of what she had done to a Fire Nation soldier; it had been self-defence, in the end, but that didn't make it any less gruesome.

"Never mind a new name!" Suki chided the group, before gesturing ahead of them; they had been climbing up the hillside, and in the distance he could make out the distinctive statue of Avatar Kyoshi; he could tell it was their one, as it still had burn marks received from when Zhao's men had invaded.

"We're home!"

* * *

Sitting on the throne of the Fire Lord, Azula felt an odd sense of calm; she was usually far too concerned with the matters of running the Fire Nation, which had grown more of a challenge in her brother's absence. Her mind was not currently focused on the threats that faced the Fire Nation, and at a greater level, the peace she had forged itself, but rather on a far more personal matter. Although she had not gotten what she had initially desired in joining the Avatar, that being the death of her father, she still found herself to be at peace with her actions, and with who she had become; she wondered if it was how Zuko had felt after he had decided to join her in Ba Sing Se- to be absolutely certain of himself. She was certain that she would serve her brother as a loyal advisor, and ensure that his reign would be the greatest of any Fire Lord to date; he was young, and thus had a long time to make a lasting impression and effect on his nation.

Her blue flames lit the throne room brightly, and although the glare of her fire obscured her vision somewhat, she was certain when she saw a figure walking down toward her that she knew who it was; it had to be Mai, having learnt the way the girl took herself with each step, light on her feet and her head held high, but not haughty- calm, like a hawk waiting to strike its prey. As she approached the Princess, she didn't have to make herself known, Azula dropping the flames in front of her, stepping up from her throne; usually she would desire to act stern and intimidating toward her subjects, seeing that she was Interim Fire Lord and not simply the Crown Princess.

"Mai. What occasion has led you to grace me with your presence?" she asked her in a tone that she made specifically jovial, as to assure her she wasn't being sarcastic; she genuinely wanted to know why her friend had specifically come to meet her in the throne room, when she could have called on her to meet in the gardens, or even at her home.

"I'm learnt something." she told her, walking closer to the throne, kneeling down, as Azula would expect any of the FIre Lord's subjects to do, "Something that concerns you."

"Oh." she raised a brow, pursing her lips in consideration of what she might reveal, "Now, I'm really interested."

"I have learnt of an organisation which seeks to reinstate your father on the throne, operating in the Fire Nation Capital itself." she revealed, Azula's flames heightening as she tensed up, realising that she couldn't remain calm indefinitely- things always needed to be dealt with.

"That's unfortunate." she softened her thoughts into more amiable words, "And what is the nature of this organisation?"

"They meet at a hideout, down in the port town; it's an old warehouse that has been converted. Their numbers aren't too large, but they are growing. I'd say... a hundred perhaps, but that was only one meeting, the organisation might have sponsors or hidden members who don't want to risk revealing themselves."

"Ah... and how did you come across this organisation?" she asked the teen girl, who looked up at her with a tense expression; Azula could tell immediately that Mai had some like of personal tie to the organisation.

"My father." she explained, "I am unsure if he is the leader or not, but he is certainly part of it."

"What is this mysterious group of traitors called?" she asked her, making the usually stoic girl purse her lips into a smirk.

"The New Ozai Society." she clarified, the Princess's eyes widening, before she snickered; to think an organisation that sought to overthrow her brother was given a name in homage of her own re-titling of Omashu- the very fact itself indicated to her that Ukano led the organisation, seeing that he was the former governor of the city, after the insane and ancient King Bumi liberated the city in the name of the Earth Kingdom.

"Oh." she raised a finger, "Now, that is what I call a funny coincidence. Would that explain why your father decided to not accept our gracious offer of returning him to the ranks of the Fire Lord's ministry?"

"I think so." Mai admitted, before her eyes narrowed on her, clearly serious in her expression, "I don't want my family to be caught up in this whole ordeal." she admitted, the Princess nodding at her as she approached, placing a hand on her shoulder, the flames of the throne dying down behind her.

"I understand that." she acknowledged her friend's concerns, before she smirked, knowing that she had something very different in mind from arresting Ukano, "Your father will not die, but neither will he be publicly humiliated, you have my word."

Her eyes widened, actually surprised by what Azula was telling her, "You're not going to have him arrested on the spot?"

"Of course not." she assured her, "Your father will disappear if he continues his operations, as will all of his compatriots." clarifying her intentions; throwing her father and the other conspirators away in prison was not her exact intention, but to be sent to prison and thus find themselves educated on their mistakes.

"Disappear?" she asked her, the Princess smirking.

"Of course, I will make sure they become non-threats to our regime with as little violence as possible, but I have decided I will give anyone with similar ideas a fair warning first."

"A warning." she raised a brow, before looking her in the eyes, "That wouldn't happen to be some kind of spectacle, would it?"

"A spectacle, perhaps." she confirmed, before tilting her chin up, "But not the not a false, dramatic kind of spectacle. Something that will show the people of the Fire Nation that their new Fire Lord does not take treason lightly."

"And what will you do to show that... resolve?" she questioned her, sounding curious as to what the Princess intended.

She grinned at her smugly, not wanting to reveal the big surprise before she had the opportunity to scare her potential enemies, "Well, you'll find out soon enough. I'll have a speech organised by the palace office." she declared, her friend raising her brows, before the Princess began to walk through the throne room, "Now, did you want to discuss anything else?"

Mai turned to her, her stoic expression barely masking the obvious unease she was feeling about the situation with her father, "I don't, but if you don't mind, you could join me to the exit."

"I guess I could." Azula acknowledged, tilting her head forward to gesture her to follow, her friend's tense stance lightening for a moment as she followed her along through the throne room.

"Are you enjoying your time as Fire Lord?" she asked the Princess, who couldn't restrain herself from chuckling.

"Oh, there's not much too it really. Now I get to sit on an uncomfortable chair surrounded by flames and order people around, instead of doing the same on my own two feet." she acknowledged the fact of the matter; as her brother's closest advisor and functional deputy, her word was law in the palace unless it contradicted something her brother himself had ordered.

"So, it isn't very different, then." Mai concluded, before she raised her hand up, "My life has been pretty boring ever since we got back from our escapade in the Earth Kingdom."

"We did burn down Chan's house on our little vacation. That was fun, wasn't it?" the Princess suggested with a grin, remembering that evening quite fondly in hindsight, as she had both gotten revenge on the boy who ignored her, as well as making up with Zuko after their relationship had been strained.

"I guess that was fun." her friend admitted, "I just wish I had gone in to get more food before you and Zuko burnt it down."

"Ah, yes." she reminded herself that Mai had mostly concerned herself with the free treats rather than boys like she and Ty Lee had, "Free food is quite useful, isn't it?"

"You get your food for free all the time." her friend raised a brow at her, rather sceptical that it held the same weight for the two of them.

"You're right, Mai. If you ever want to feast on deserts, please, feel free to come over to the Royal Spa. You, Ty Lee and I could get a nice manicure and wash together, and there's as many free deserts as you could ever eat." she suggested, her stoic friend making a curt smile at the suggestion.

"That would be far better than the place I go to... I'll consider it." she admitted, the Princess making a small smile, although she tried to mask it by making it smug; she was genuinely appreciative that her friend was considering to spend time with her, even if she was effectively bribing her with the unparalleled treatment of the Royal Spa.

As they exited the throne room, the Palace Guards who had been stationed outside looked at her, and all Azula needed to do was flick her finger, and they understood her command; they were follow her along, but stay behind, and as she walked along with Mai, they did just that, staying a far enough distance that it didn't stifle their conversation.

"What will you be doing today?" she asked her friend, hoping to make conversation, but also genuinely intrigued in how her friend might be spending her time; she was unsure if she had any hobbies to speak of other than her fascination with throwing knives.

"I don't really have much to do. I might read... there's some interesting literature that's been appearing since your brother took the throne."

"Literature you say? Are people speaking their minds a little more rather than focusing on the war?" she asked her friend, who pursed her lips in thought.

"I'm unsure. People have a lot of opinions. Some of them are... a little unusual."

"Like what... enlighten me." she asked of her friend, who pulled a knife from her robes with her left hand, flicking it up into the air before catching it with her right.

"There's people who think that bending is a curse upon the world... I can't blame them, seeing what benders on both sides have done during the war."

"As stupid as that idea sounds, it does have merit. Bending is one weapon that gives certain people power over others, but then again, without that power, we'd have chaos."

"What, do you think the world would be so bad without bending?" she quipped in response, Azula shrugging her shoulders.

Bending was the root cause of both her ills and her own power, which in the end had allowed her to escape. If she had been born a non-bender, there was no way she could have wielded the power she had procured for herself, let alone have her father hold any respect for her; not that that specific thing was an issue for her anymore, but she knew that she earned the respect of her nation through her bending prowess and achievements, which both went hand-in-hand.

"I don't know, honestly. I would be worse off without my bending for sure; there's only so far being a genius can get you if you can't bend." she argued, Mai raising a brow.

"Do you really think that's true? I thought some of the highest ranking officials in the Fire Nation government were intelligent non-benders." she argued, the Princess nodding; she did know of a few well-mannered and smart non-benders in her brothers ministry, but they, unlike her, did not have to deal with the expectations of being a Princess.

"The expectations put upon a Princess are different from a noblewoman like yourself." she simply put it, "Being a master bender is what is expected of me; I just had the luck of being a prodigy. If I had been born with Zuzu's bad luck... well, perhaps someone else might have found themselves banished by father." she admitted, making Mai look away, her face stoic, but her hands trembling; although she hadn't considered it before, what happened to Zuko, it must have hurt for Mai, when she actually came to understand why it had happened.

"That... that would have been unfortunate." her friend covered up her unease by softening the gravity of what her brother had experienced.

"It was unfortunate for Zuko to go through what he did." she acknowledged, "He didn't deserve it, but... it set him on the right path. He's his own man now, and I think he'll be a great Fire Lord."

"That's assuming he'll remain Fire Lord." Mai suggested, reminding her of what they had previously discussed.

"I'm here to make sure nothing of that sort happens. I am sure my brother will agree with whatever countermeasures I devise against such threats." she declared confidently, knowing that she would have already dealt with the New Ozai Society and their chagrin before he returned to the homeland from his little trip around the Earth Kingdom, "And I have no intention of taking the throne for myself." she added, just to ensure her friend that her position as Interim Fire Lord was just that, for an interim period.

"I wasn't thinking of you." she admitted, the Princess nodding.

"Oh I know that. No insidious cabals are going to uproot the great vision we have for the Fire Nation." she assured her friend, as they made their way up toward the front of the palace, the massive doors being opened for her by the guards that were stationed, the bright light of the midday sun shining down into the hall.

"What exactly are you going to do, Azula? I can't read your mind." she asked of her bluntly, coming to a halt by the doorway, the Princess smirking confidently, sure that her friend would be relieved by her intentions; she didn't want to kill a number of her father's loyalists just because they believed he'd be a more competent Fire Lord.

"Oh, well, I intend to remove the possibility of a reactionary coup from the equation." she argued, her friend raising a brow, obviously not reading between the lines.

"Remove what? You didn't answer my question." she chided her, her voice showing the slightest bit of frustration.

"I will remove the possibility of a coup, because they are based on the presumption that my father can become Fire Lord once more." she clarified herself, not stating her exact intentions, just hoping that Mai would be witty enough to understand her plan.

Her tense expression, as well as her eyes darting between her and the guards that surrounded them, indicated to the Princess that she indeed understood what she intended.

"You're going to... execute him?" she asked, the Princess scoffing.

"I have no intention of killing my father; ending his punishment now, that would be too easy." she clarified, "So, instead, I will make my brother's detractors believe a lie."

"A lie?" she asked her, the Princess placing a hand on her shoulder, reassuring her that she always had a plan; her plan was intelligent, and it was foolproof at that very moment, seeing that the two people it involved couldn't exactly be tracked down once she was finished with her plan.

"Trust me, it's a good one."

* * *

Just like any other firebender, Zuko rose with the sun, and that morning was no different to any other; he wiped the sleep from his eyes, pulling himself up from the mattress, and couldn't help but smile seeing Suki lying beside him. He was so happy that he had returned to Kyoshi Island, which he would admit had been an unusual experience to the say the least. Unlike what he first expected, it didn't feel like a some kind of vacation at all; he felt a home, spending his days doing the ordinary things he'd expect, training with the Kyoshi Warriors, helping around the village, and then enjoying meals with his friends. It was as if the Avatar had never arrived on the island and indirectly sent him on his journey around the world which had ultimately ended with Zuko becoming Fire Lord.

He yawned loudly, although to his luck, his girlfriend didn't wake from her slumber; stretching his arms out, he felt that he ought to start his morning with a cup of tea and some calming meditation, before he started his day; he didn't know what he was going to do, and for the first time in seemingly years, he was glad that was the case. There was no quest to find the Avatar, no fight to survive from day to day, no friends to save, and no duties he had to fulfil as Fire Lord.

Rising out of bed, he glanced over to his bedside table, where he had left his set of cups and a teapot, which he grown to using regularly since they returned to Kyoshi Island; it was tradition that he would serve his friends a refreshing cup of tea, and he had to stop himself from laughing when Amari kept comparing his tea to that of his uncles. He had certainly gotten better, Zuko wouldn't deny that, but he wouldn't say that he was anywhere near as good at him at brewing tea; he had little understanding of which teas tasted best, or the better way to brew each variety, having been constrained by the fact that they only had green tea on Kyoshi Island.

He grasped the teapot with his right hand, before pulling his water skin up, pouring some of it into the pot; the water was cold, but that was no issue for Zuko, who could boil it himself with his firebending. Putting his hand beneath the teapot, he began to heat the water up, making sure he didn't too it too quickly; he had done that once before when he had been too eager for a pot of tea and had scald his hands with the bubbling liquid by accident. Taking his bag of tea leaves, he scattered some into the liquid as it heated; the aroma of fresh tea quickly filled the room, making him take a deep breath, taking a moment to enjoy it before letting the tea settle in the pot, placing it on the bedside table once more.

"Huh... is it tea time?" he heard his girlfriend murmur beside him, surprising Zuko that she was indeed awake; he turned to face her with a smile, her dazed eyes meeting his own.

"Yes, it is." he smiled at her, gesturing over to the tea cups, "Did you want some?"

"That'd be nice." she mumbled, before wiping the sleep from her eyes, "Oh... it's only sunrise." she looked out of the window taking note of the orange horizon to the east.

He grasped the teapot, pouring out some of the steaming hot liquid, before handing it over to his girlfriend, who smiled at him appreciatively as she took the cup into her hands, placing it on her lap as she sat up on the bed; she scratched her scalp, pulling her hair out of its matted form, before turning to face him.

"So, what did you want to do today?" she asked him, the young Fire Lord unsure how to answer her question; he didn't want to anything in particular, if he were to be completely honest- he would enjoy his cup of tea as well as her company, but after that he didn't really consider.

"Drink my tea." he joked, reaching over to grab a cup for himself, before his expression became more serious, "Honestly, I don't know. How about you decide?" he asked her as he poured himself some tea.

"I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to go for a morning run." she suggested, Zuko tilting his head to the side.

"Huh, not a bad idea. Beats sitting around meditating until the Kyoshi Warriors force me to do something." he acknowledged, making Suki grin at him, knowing that her friends were more than likely going to commandeer whatever activity they decided to do together.

"Good point." she agreed, taking a sip of his tea, her lips pursing as she raised a brow at him, "You're good at making tea, Zuko."

"That's what everyone's saying these days." he acknowledged, before taking a sip for himself; he thought the tea wasn't half bad, but he knew that the tea leaves his uncle used were better tasting than the ones they had on Kyoshi Island.

"You know, I didn't think this is where I'd be a year after finding you." she admitted, the Fire Lord rising a brow; they were in her house, after all, so he was somewhat confused by why she she'd have thought she'd be anywhere different.

"Well we're in your house." he acknowledged, his girlfriend rolling her eyes as she took another sip from her teacup.

"I don't mean it like that. I didn't know you were a firebender, let alone a Prince. You're the Fire Lord now... I found the future Fire Lord on a beach." she noted the absurdity of their meeting; he was always a Prince, but to his girlfriend, it must have been the most shocking escalation.

"I guess a lot did happen. A lot of good, I'd say." he argued, the Kyoshi Warrior raising a finger to her chin.

"Well, other than your sister throwing me and all my friends in prison... yeah, I think we had a good year." she smiled, raising her cup up, "Well, to our next year of shenanigans?"

"I'd prefer a year of peace." he admitted with a quiet voice, before his eyes moved up to her own, making a small smile, "Yeah... another year." he clinked his cup with her own, making the two of them chuckle before drinking down the rest of their tea.

Suki made a deep exhale, before placing her cup down on her side of the bed, "Now... who can run faster to your Royal Barge and back?" she asked him with a cock of her head.

He narrowed his eyes at her, glancing down at her attire, noticing that she, like himself, was only wearing undergarments, "Uh don't we need to get dressed?" he asked her, the Kyoshi Warrior pursing her lips, before she threw the blanket they were lying on up at his face, shocking Zuko momentarily as he flinched backward.

Falling off the bed, he grunted as he fell on his backside, immediately throwing the blanket off of his body before he looked up at his girlfriend, who was quickly pulling her tunic over her shoulders; he rolled his eyes, understanding her intentions well enough as he grabbed his pants, pushing his legs through them, before he grasped his tunic, which he had dispensed of the night prior.

"Did you really want to race to see who could dress themselves quicker?" he asked her accusingly, the Kyoshi Warrior feigning innocent.

"I thought you liked competition." she suggested, the young Fire Lord sighing as he pulled his boots over his feet, making his feet feel awkward as he forced them into the shoes.

"Not when I'm nearly naked and half-asleep." he argued as he finally retrieved his outer robe, throwing it over his shoulders as he pushed his arms through the sleeves.

By the time he had gotten to his feet, he saw Suki was already dressed, ready to run out the door, "Come on slowpoke, I'm sure you can catch up!" she prodded him; Zuko sighed with frustration as she darted out the door.

"Why'd she have to make it a race?" he mumbled to himself, before he followed her out the door, following her as she raced down toward the beach, where she'd be able to take the quickest path toward the port.

He was able to catch up to her by the time they reached the first hill slope, gritting his teeth as he shouted out to her, "Come on, you're making this too easy!"

"Am I?" she questioned him, the young Fire Lord prodded into increasing his pace, making his way behind her as she wound up the rather haphazard path that moved between numerous lanky conifer trees.

As he reached the top of the hill, he smirked as he found himself ahead of Suki, but quickly realised he should have been focusing on the path ahead of him rather where she was, as he tripped over the exposed root of a tree, falling face first in the dirt. He grunted as he hit the ground, but the only sound he could make was a groan of annoyance as he tried to pull himself up from the ground; instead of running ahead of him, his girlfriend had approached him, leaning over to help him up.

"Zuko, you really should have been looking ahead." she chided him, the Fire Lord wiping the dirt from his face as he looked back up to her.

"I got distracted." he admitted, making her raise a brow as she helped him up.

"Yeah, that's obvious enough." she acknowledged, before the two of them looked forward along the path, "So, are we still going to run?"

"Uh... maybe not a race." he suggested, before he turned to the right, glancing at the morning sun as it slowly rose through the clouds that sat by the horizon, "Just go along and watch the sunrise."

"That'd be nice." she smiled at him, before narrowing her glare at him, "But we're jogging." she stressed before she began to pick up her pace; he followed after her, feeling a pain on his hands as face as he tried to keep up pace.

He followed after Suki, who wound downhill, leading him along the rough path that traced around the coastline of the island; Kyoshi Island wasn't that large, after all, but even then, he realised that it was a challenge to maintain a fast pace. As they wound around a slope, he finally made sight of his Royal Barge, although it was still some distance away, sitting at the end of a pier in by the north tip of the island.

"Ah, my ship's still there." he acknowledged, his girlfriend raising a brow at him.

"What, did you expect it to sink again?" she asked, making him shake his head.

"No, that old ship was far smaller and easier to sink that this one; I was more worried about them going off and leaving without me."

"You're still Fire Lord, aren't you?" she questioned him, almost accusingly, making Zuko chuckle; nothing had changed since he arrived at he island, even if he felt like it had.

It wasn't as if Azula had suddenly become a megalomaniac dictator and would do anything to stop him from returning; he was constantly reminding himself that that version of Azula, she was as good as dead- not in the sense that she was a completely different person, but that their bond was stronger than ever. Him becoming Fire Lord was a bonus on top of gaining that relationship, a burden he would have to carry because there was no one else who could; he wanted to lead his nation down the right path, but he honestly wished his dreams could have been achieved without his effort- despite all his evil, he wished that his father had been a good father, that Fire Lord Sozin hadn't ruined and distorted his nation's culture and identity for his own imperialistic ambitions.

"I am." he confirmed, before his eyes widened, "I became Fire Lord... spirits, it's crazy to think that's what's changed for me this past year."

"And you became a fugitive in between." she raised a finger before she began to continue pacing along, the young Fire Lord remaining by her side; his life had changed so much, but he actually felt like he was more himself than he had ever been before- he was the true Zuko, scrubbing away all of the lies and obligations.

"And now, I'm here, and I'm happy that I can just be myself." he admitted, the Kyoshi Warrior grinning at him, punching him in the shoulder.

"You can always be yourself. You've just got to get the confidence to express yourself." she suggested, before he shrugged his shoulders.

"I can express myself in front of you." he simply stated his observations of the facts, making her grin at him, kissing him on the cheek, avoiding the splotches of dirt that he had accidentally covered his face with.

"I'm glad you do. You're going to be a better Fire Lord than any before." she assured him, making him blush; if only he was as confident in himself as she was for him; he turned to her, grasping her by the hand, realising how much she had helped him, and more than that, how much help he had received by opening up to others.

"Well, I'm going to need some help." he suggested, the Kyoshi Warrior cocking her chin up as she gave him a grin of assurance.

"I'm not going anywhere."

**Author's Note:**

> Hey this is a new fic that I'm writing, a slight deviation from my other writing (Into The Fire), and it's not going to be as wordcount heavy. I'm trying to write a new AU idea where I can get both the cute Zuki ship but also other spicy plot elements which I won't reveal at this very moment.


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